Irecently had the privilege of chatting with Leyland Teal about the old Chapin depot.

We took a verbal time machine to Chapin in the 1950s and ’60s.

The Chapin councilman’s memories made me smile.

The Columbia, Newberry, and Laurens Railroad started in 1885 was the mode of transportation for anyone in Newberry, Prosperity, Little Mountain, Chap-in, White Rock and Irmo to get to Columbia.

The CNL was known as the “cranky, noisy, and late railroad.”

The Chapin depot was at the center of Teal’s childhood and family life.

The depot, built around 1890, was near Martin Chapin’s sawmill.

Leyland’s dad, Eugene Baxter Teal, was the train-master in Chapin. As a child, Eugene spent summers in Hoffman, NC, near the Hamlet train depot.

“He helped at the train yard and learned the telegraph, an essential skill for the railroad,” Teal said.

Eugene had Bells Palsy and was not drafted during World War II. He sold insurance.

When he heard about the job at the Chapin depot, he quickly took it.

“We moved into the old Chapin hotel when we first arrived and later built a house,” said Teal. “Mom had a florist in the depot and provided flowers for every wedding and funeral in the area.

“She had transported flowers in her a Volkswagen, even the long funeral casket flowers.

“You can’t imagine how many flowers a Volkswagen can hold,” he said.

Teal reminisced about the pot-bellied stove, the only heat source in the building. As a child, he would walk to the depot and hang out with his dad. If fruit or vegetables arrived by train, the spoiled ones had to be trashed. That was a Teal family job.

Teal remembers the tragic Stockman house fire that prompted the creation of the Chapin Fire department in 1964.

The CNL had 2 passenger cars. Tickets were for sale at the depot.

His dad would buy Coca Colas at Worth Goza’s general store and give free drinks to those who traveled the farthest on the train.

Teal remembered Lonnie Fulmer’s barbershop, and Joe Chapmen’s service station having the best hamburgers.

“Every Friday night, Lee Commalander would BBQ a pig and sell the meat on Saturday,” he said.

Whitey Wessinger’s furniture store was around the corner from the depot.

Teal said, “Whitey had a Central Chevrolet dealership before he owned the furniture store, and we bought one of the first Corvair convertibles in South Carolina from him.”

The depot was conveniently next to Elliot Brothers.

“Chilt Elliot taught women all about guns and how to shoot and trained them to be gun saleswomen,” said Teal.

The depot was moved in the 1960s to a field but now is dilapidated.

“It is too far gone to be fixed,” Teal said.

He now works for the state unemployment office and enjoys collecting antiques with Carol, his wife of more than 39 years.

He proudly pulled out the original telegraph used at the depot, complete with a Prince Albert metal can used to make the clicks louder.

When I found out he had a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, I got excited.

He promised that when he fixed it up, he would take me for a ride.