A grave marker for Brownie, a dog at the Victorville, Calif., railroad depot that greeted soldiers coming home from World War II, will be moved to the California Route 66 Museum, reports the Victorville Daily Press.
The marker is being moved because Forrest Park, where it sits, is being torn down.
Brownie apparently was a stray dog who showed up one day at the depot and never left. He was essentially adopted and cared for by railroad employees.
“I remember the dog well,” says Shirley Davisson, whose father worked for the railroad. “He was just a mongrel. A smaller-type, little tan dog.”
Davisson played with the dog when he came by to visit his father or deliver a message.
“Everybody stopped and played with him. He was real friendly.” […]
Brownie was at the station 24 hours a day, Davisson says, until he was run over by a train and killed in 1945.
The employees who had taken care of the dog then took up a collection for a stone to mark his grave.
One Roadside America correspondent gave a bit more history about Brownie:
Dog faithfully met every Santa Fe train’s crew coming up from the treacherous El Cajon summit, and they threw him meat cooked on the caboose stove. Wouldn’t allow passengers dogs in “his” station, until eventually poor pooch was ironically run down by his beloved 5:15.
Another correspondent gives another possible reason why the grave marker is going to be moved:
Please exercise caution in Forrest Park. It is rapidly becoming a very bad area, and if you want to stop and see the grave, beware of your surroundings and keep an eye on your fellow “park users” at all times. I would not advise going alone, or wearing anything that looks flashy or expensive (including your camera). There have been a lot of altercations and disturbances there lately.
The marker says: “Brownie — A railroad dog. A friend and a pal. 1945”.