Where the Tracks Meet
Narrator: Around 1910, the town of Thurmond, West Virginia, is squeezed between a steep hillside and the New River. Railroad tracks run through the narrow space beside the water. Steam engines hiss, wheels clatter, and coal cars wait to be moved.
Samuel: Nellie, if you stand there much longer, you’ll miss the whole argument.
Nellie: What argument?
Samuel: The one I’m having with myself. I say I can count every coal car in that train before it passes. The other side says I can’t.
Nellie: The other side sounds sensible. You already missed three.
Samuel: I was explaining the rules!
Narrator: Samuel gives up counting and joins Nellie near the depot. They keep well away from the tracks. Railroad workers have enough to watch without two children underfoot.
Nellie: I brought the pencil. Did you bring the paper?
Samuel: Right here. Though I still don’t see how we can draw a picture of Thurmond for school when the trains keep blocking it.
Nellie: Maybe the trains belong in the picture.
Samuel: All of them? We’ll need a bigger piece of paper.
- depot:
- A station where trains stop and passengers or goods are handled.
- locomotive:
- An engine that pulls a train.
- branch:
- A smaller railroad route that connects to a main line.
- gorge:
- A deep, narrow valley with steep sides.
- freight:
- Goods carried from one place to another.
- metallic:
- Having the sound or quality of metal.
- ambitious:
- Showing a strong desire to achieve something.
- sketches:
- Makes quick, simple drawings.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1How does the children's disagreement about what to draw develop into a shared idea?
- 2What does Nellie's suggestion to draw a branch track reveal about her approach to showing the mines?
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About this reader's theater passage for Middle School
“Where the Tracks Meet” is a reader's theater reading passage about Coal and railroad history, written for Middle School. It takes about 7 minutes to read (1,013 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.