Local historians remember that the train earned its nickname from two early train workers, Richard Hundley and William Martin. The Dick & Willie was vital to the people, communities, and industries it linked together, becoming a partner and an important part of daily life. It was given human characteristics, and one memoir recalled that "Dick and Willie was and is a merry little train, with many pleasant associations ... the train as a whole was thought of by the people as a personality ... and a personality it was." Although rail passenger service on the Dick and Willie ended in 1949, as diesel engines began to serve the line, portions of the railroad are being traveled again as a recreational trail, connecting communities and families to each other and to the landscape.