Before the Chester Becket Railroad was built, moving granite from Becket to the finishing mill Chester Granite and Polishing Works was done by physical labor. The biggest problem was that of getting rough stone down to the quarry’s Chester finishing sheds. Up at the quarry rim the stone would be hoisted by hand derrick upon a large flat-bed wagon, and since it was all downhill, one team and luck and good brakes would suffice to get the stone as far as Chester Depot. In those days the road crossed the tracks beside the station sans underpass, so a second team was needed to heft the stone load up over the hump to the freight house, or the finishing sheds for cutting and polishing beyond.

Grades and frail wagons severely limited the size of granite slabs that could be shipped, so someone came up with the idea of building a wagon so strong and so large it could carry anything. It was built at the quarry with the toughest construction and strongest brakes the crew could devise. They loaded it up and set forth. When they arrived at Chester Depot it did take three teams to drag it over the hump of the railroad grade, but they achieved the finishing shed in triumph. Then they started back to the quarry. One team failed. Two teams weren’t enough. Three teams were still found wanting. The wagon was so heavy it could not be dragged back up to the quarry! There, beside the road for years afterward could be seen the “old quarry wagon,” left to rot down after one trip.

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