Old Fort Railroad Museum

Cleaning out the office I found a few railway stories I did back in the fall of 1992. My producer, Andy Lockett and I were on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains Railway to do several feature pieces for the News station I worked at. We stopped in Old Fort North Carolina to see Bob Wilson who had some old photos we needed for our story. When we walked in we were amazed at his collection. We put a mic on him and asked him to give us a tour.

[@kimwright6292]

This is wonderful. Thank you for this!!

[@jimp6542]

My wife had an uncle that lived in Old Fort and he became an engineer on the railroad. He did it all from shoveling coal to finally becoming an engineer. He worked on Seaboard, Atlantic Coast and , finally, Amtrak. Worked for close to 60 years and that was the only thing he knew. His name was Donald C. Watkins.

[@railroadvelocipedeproducti2020]

is bob still alive or is he long gone?

[@GreatScenicRailwayJourneys]

Not sure. He was 78 when I filmed this back in 1992

[@railroadvelocipedeproducti2020]

Great Scenic Railway Journeys wow

[@railroadvelocipedeproducti2020]

Great Scenic Railway Journeys and I visited the old fort depot serval times and never seen him before so yeah he’s properly somewhere else or he’s dead now

[@cmcginnis100]

@@GreatScenicRailwayJourneys - He is not unfortunately. He passed away in 2005 at the age of 91. He was the Grandfather of my best friend. A wonderful man.