First, the beginning
My hometown in the county of Changling County, Jilin Province, more than two hundred miles from the remote village, to the largest nearby market town has more than 50 miles, to seven handful of township and more than 30 miles, but it has a unique condition, is in the vicinity of the Pingqi (Siping – Qiqihar) Railway, three miles from the village there is a railroad station, the station is small, only a few employees, so the village people are called it “small station”.
In fact, the small station is not a station, the original is just a road maintenance area, there are a dozen road maintenance workers, and a dozen staff family housing, and three tiled houses are on the work, the workers gathered in the place and storage of tools warehouse, their task is to inspect and repair the section of the railroad under their control, when is the work area, when I was small, there is no memory, anyway, the train does not stop here.
The first impression I left was in 1958, one day in the summer, the village people ran around, saying that the small station to perform the play, we were excited, especially the children, but also cheerful, ecstatic, I begged my mother to take me to see, my mother took a pocket to lead me, first jerk elm leaves, which is the feed for the pigs, and then on the ground to climb the trees to see.
Near the station were small and large hills, covered with elm trees, the railroad was passing through these hills, we children in those large elm trees to watch the play, in fact, where is the play, the railroad system is organized by the literary propaganda team, condolences to the workers along the line, there are chorus, show singing, fast books, etc., although what was played are forgotten, but this became my first impression of the small station.
In 1964, I was already in high school, and the small station was still a work area, so I had to get on and off the train at the train station, which was more than ten miles away, during the summer vacation in 1965, my family went to say that the small station was parked, so I bought a ticket for the small station and got off the train at the small station for the first time.
It is probably the smallest train station in the country, stopping only once a day for trains to and from the station. However, it has greatly facilitated the travel of people here. 90% of the people in the village have never been to the county, and most of them have never even been to the township, but there is no one who has never taken a train. The train ride has become the pride and joy of the people in the village.
II. Ticket evasion
In the early 1960s, I was studying in middle school, the town where the school is located, more than 50 miles from home, young, every week want to go home, when the small station is still a work area, the bus does not stop, but in order to take care of the railroad workers, there are students commuter car, railroad children to school on the tail car of the truck, then the same class in junior high school there are two classmates, is the children of railroad workers, home in the small station live, we a few rural children also follow the borrowed light The number of times The number of times, people also do not allow.
Occasionally Sunday something to go home also take the bus, only to get off from the station more than ten miles from home, walking home, but the problem is not here, children walk a dozen miles is nothing, the problem is a round trip to spend 60 cents on the ticket, a month of food costs only 4-5 yuan, home once can be enough for several days of food costs.
No money still want to go home, you have to escape the ticket, no one cares when you get on the train, at first timid, when you see the steward or the police will hurry to hide, in fact, when not check the ticket, no one cares about you, but the thief’s heart is weak, always afraid, to the car encounter check the ticket on the trouble, generally several of our students are not in a car door to get on the car, encounter which section of the carriage check the ticket, say the ticket in the hands of the people in front of you, and then quickly notify the accomplice, we all go in the other direction, the good thing is only one stop of the journey, more than 40 minutes, most of the time can escape, get off the car, we are excited about the successful escape.
The winter and summer holidays will not work, carrying luggage with things, or do not want to buy a ticket, once, a student on the train, it so happened to encounter ticket checks, carrying luggage, the conductor to see his ticket, he also said in the hands of others, people with him to go forward, walked several carriages, see students also dare not say, see to the forefront, and then go forward to the head, he only had to make up the ticket, but also a fine. It is good that he did not confess to others, so we were spared. If he had really pointed out in whose hand the ticket was, he would have been a traitor. After getting off the bus, although he was frustrated, but everyone did not gloat and comforted him.
While carrying our luggage and stuff and walking for more than ten miles, we thought about the small station again. When could we get off there so that we wouldn’t have to carry the weight of a long march?
III. Busy
In the mid-to-late 1960s, the small station became a real station, where trains from south to north stopped every day, and the station officially sold tickets, making it much easier to go out.
But in those days, people seldom went out, and when the “big gang boom”, the community members worked for months and years, but there was not much harvest, not to mention how much money it cost to go out once, it was necessary to have a good reason to ask for leave, and it took a lot of words. Not to mention that in that era of planned economy, food to food stamps, clothing to cloth stamps, and nothing to buy. The pigs and eggs laid by the chickens were all tasked with the unified acquisition, and there was nothing to sell. At that time, there were not many people boarding and alighting from the small station, which seemed a bit cold and quiet.
In the late 70’s, the rural areas implemented the responsibility system of joint production contract, the small station began to come alive, every day people come and go, vegetables, eggs, meat and other agricultural products, from the small station to the city by train. They bought back the production materials they needed, as well as various daily necessities that people liked.
What is even more delightful is that every day there are donkey carts for transporting people to and from the train, so people from near and far don’t have to carry people on their shoulders, and they don’t have to worry about how many things to bring, so everyone is happy to call them “donkey jeeps”.
A few years ago, once home, to the long-lost small station on the train, I was amazed at the sight of the station so many people are carrying baskets, the baskets are mushrooms, one of my friends and relatives told me that in the past few years, we have a mushroom fortune here, a rainy season, adults and children can go out to pick, a month time, more income can be 2000-3000 yuan, less can also collect a few hundred yuan, but thanks to the small station, otherwise, these things are also thrown in vain, he pointed to the mushrooms in the basket.
I looked up and saw a placard above the small station, which reads “The railroad should be a good first officer”, I see this “officer” to be more real than a good people’s “orderly”.
Over the years, the economic development of the hometown has been faster, and vegetable greenhouses have been set up in every home, and all kinds of fresh vegetables picked by farmers every day have to be sent to nearby and slightly distant towns through the small station.
The small station also entered the busiest period, originally parking for one minute, and then parking for two minutes. The station was a great credit to the economic development of the neighborhood.
Fourth, the veneration
When I went home last year, I heard from people in the village that the small station had been withdrawn a few years ago, and the trains had stopped. Small station faded, I feel a touch of melancholy and sorrow, I can not help but doubt, the development of various undertakings today, but the railroad has regressed? The more the economy develops, the greater the traffic volume should be, the more convenient, so called transportation is the main artery of the economy.
So I decided to take a trip to the small station, and on the way to remember the decades of travel to and from the path of all kinds of past events.
One year, the winter break of the first year of high school, my classmates and I was in the small station off the train, carrying luggage back home, just to the courtyard, found that my family lived in the house has been stripped, only the remains of the walls, to ask a classmate’s home, only to know that the family has built a new house, the classmate’s brother led me to find a new home.
That year, I had to go to work, my father sent me, on the way, he said a lot of words to tell me, I can not remember the specific content, but the scene is still fresh in my mind, vivid.
I was immersed in the memories of the past, unknowingly have come to the small station, although I already know the small station dismantled, but the scene in front of me still surprised me, “the grass withered poplar, once for the singing and dancing field”, a little depressed and cold feeling.
There are no more people coming and going, noisy and lively scene, no more neat and beautiful station house, and no more trees and flowers planted in front of the station. Only two railway tracks lying there quietly, carrying the rumbling trains passing.
More than forty years ago I came out of my hometown to study abroad, more than thirty years ago I came out of my hometown to work abroad, and more than ten years ago my son who studied abroad and I came back to visit friends and relatives, all got on and off the train from here.
How many times did folks get sick in an emergency, and it was the small station that provided the convenience to save lives. How many people in the village, like me, have gone from here to the outside world to develop and progress, not to mention the fact that in recent years everyone has been able to make a fortune thanks to the station.
The station is gone, gone from the railway line, gone from the map, gone from the world, but I, the people in the village, and the folks nearby will never forget it, and the station will always remain in our hearts.
Notes.
- According to the authority, the cancellation of some small stations is necessary for the speed and overall layout of the train.
- In recent years, roads have been opened in my hometown and young people have motorcycles, so the abolition of small stations did not affect people’s travel and external communication.
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