HAMLET — The Silver Meteor is a passenger train operated by Amtrak that runs from New York City to Miami, Florida. According to American-Rails.com, the Seaboard Air Line Meteor made its debut on Feb. 2, 1939 and originally featured stainless-steel cars and a classic paint scheme of blends of bright yellow and orange with a center color of dark green with bright silver featured along the bottom.
Monday afternoon, Sam Hill and Mike Wilson, members on the Hamlet Depot board, tinkered with their replica of the Silver Meteor in the Tornado Building in Hamlet. Hill said they’ve been working on it for the past six months and hope to have it done within another month or so.
“It arrived in three sections,” Hill remembered. “The base is the Highway 38 bridge (in Hamlet), there was nothing in the background and all the pieces are scratch made.”
Scratch made meaning he built it all himself. Hill said he used material from the dirt in his yard to small glass beads to replicate telephone poles, cranes, stoplights, the bridge and the pile driver used in the replica. Hill said he asked Wilson’s daughters for assistance with the glass beads on the telephone pole.
“We want to make it as authentic as possible,” said Wilson.
For the background, Hill said he took approximately 17 photos of a lake and stiched them together to make one panoramic view. He said he likes to take photos of wildlife in his free time.
According to the Hamlet Depot website, Hamlet was founded in 1897 at the crossing of two tracks and functioned as division headquarters for the Seaboard Airline Railroad. Upward of 30 passenger trains passed through Hamlet daily, according to the site.
The Seaboard offered several trains, including the Cotton Blossom (which traveled from Washinton, D.C. to Atlanta), the Gulf Wind (Jacksonville to New Orleans), the New York-Florida Special (New York to Miami/St. Petersburg), the Orange Blossom Special (New York to Miami), the Palmland (New York – Tampa/Boca Grande, Florida), the Silver Meteor (New York to Miami), the Silver Comet (New York to Birmingham), the Silver Star (New York to Miami), Sunland (Washington, D.C. to Portsmouth, Virginia) and the Suwanee River Special (Cincinnati to Florida).
Sam Ballard said he used to be a conductor for the Meteor and the Champion. The Champion (with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroads) rivaled the Meteor during late 1939 and ran from New York to Miami. The two railroads merged in 1967 to form the Seaboard Coast Line System.
Ballard said the replica brings back a lot of memories for him.
“You see the modern technology and it doesn’t mean as much as hands-on,” he said.
On Monday, council member Eddie Martin and City Manager Jonathan Blanton stepped in to check on the progress of the replica. Hill gave a big thanks to the City for their support.
“The City helps us with the upkeep,” said Hill.
“Everyone works together, and that’s how we get everything up,” added Wilson.
Hill said they’re waiting for the passenger cars to arrive to add them to the replica. He said they should arrive by the end of the week.
