The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

Started by Judge, January 05, 2019, 03:59:09 PM

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GPdemayo

Another great one Bill.....so let's widen her up and wander into ballast scorcher territory.  ;D ;D ;D
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

MAP

Great story Bill.  Always enjoy reading them!
Mark

Judge

Karl, Greg, Mark - Thank you for your interest and your comments.  I appreciate knowing how my readers react to my stories.  Stay safe.

Oldguy

Another good one.  Kinda like the Saturday movie matinee serials as a kid.  They always left you with wanting to know what is next.
Bob Dye
Livin large on a pond

jrmueller

Bill - I too always look forward to your Saturday stories. Stay safe. Jim
Jim Mueller
Superintendent(Retired)
Westchester and Boston Railroad

Judge

#560
Saturday, March 28, 2020.  Sunny day, the temperature will go up to 90 today.

There is no formal Saturday Report today.  The Coronavirus has kept the A&S directors hunkered down in their respective homes until further notice.

However, that does not mean the Atlantic & Southern Railroad has not been active.  If you have been following Tom's thread on the reconditioning and repainting of our Pennsy K4s you will see he is busy.  Meanwhile, your reporter is installing passengers in the Pennsy heavyweights the K4s will eventually pull over A&S trackage. 

There is a story this week.  it has to do with skullduggery on the railroad by a would-be professional thief of 1950 vintage.  I got the idea from a story in the February, 1941 Railroad Magazine.

                                                                                                      THE CASE OF THE LITTLE BLACK BAG

    One spring day in 1950, Officer Poovey of the City of Tahope Police Department received a complaint from a passenger, whose name was Joe Thompson, concerning theft of property.  It seems that while riding in a coach on the Champion, a gentleman had struck up a conversation with Mr. Thompson and had offered him a drink from an unopened bottle of whiskey.  The two men spoke about the events of the day and, suddenly, Mr. Thompson became quite drowsy.  He drifted off to sleep as the train pulled out of Union Station in Jacksonville and did not awaken until the conductor tapped him on the shoulder at the station in Sanlando.
    Officer Poovey immediately notified ACL's railroad detective, Sam Diamond, who, upon further investigation, found this kind of incident was happening all over the ACL system.  The M.O. was always the same.  A well-dressed gentleman wearing a homburg hat would embark on the train and find a seat in a coach.  HE would place his hat on the rack above the seat and place his little black bag beside him.
    About an hour before the train would arrive at a station in a major city, he would retrieve a cloth cap from his little black bag and move about the train wearing it.  He would look for a mark who appeared to be well dressed and sit next to him.  The two would strike up a conversation and soon the thief would remove a bottle of whiskey from his little black bag.  He would also produce an empty cup, into which he would pour a couple of fo fingers of whiskey.  he would then offer the cup to the unsuspecting passenger, claiming he preferred to drink out of the bottle.
    The unsuspecting passenger would drink the whiskey and become drowsy in short order.  While the passenger was napping, the thief would pick his coat pocket and return to his original seat.  When the train stopped at the next station, he would put on his bowler hat and disembark.  Thus disguised, he would make his getaway.
    Detectives Diamond enlisted the aid of Detective Smith and they concocted a stake-out plan.  They boarded the train in Richmond and kept their eyes peeled for the mysterious passenger with the bowler hat.  Sure enough, a man fitting the description boarded at Jacksonville and, after placing his bowler hat on the rack above, took a seat with his little black bag beside him.
    The two detectives watched his every move and waited patiently for the action to occur. 
    Soon, the thief retrieved a cloth hat from his little black bag and walked to the next car, looking for a mark.  The detectives followed at a safe distance and conversed in low whispers.  Diamond asked Smith, "How do you think he gets the mark to go to sleep?"  "Must be a Mickey Finn in the cup," said Smith. 
    The thief, true to form, opened his little black bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.  He poured a couple of fingers into his cup and offered it to the mark.  Smith was in favor of making their presence known at that time, but Diamond wanted to wait until the theft was completed. 
    The unfortunate passenger drifted off to slumberland about the time the train crossed the Tahope County line and the mysterious passenger got up and returned to his seat.
    At that point, the detectives put the cuffs on the thief and turned him over to Officer Poovey at the Sanlando Station. 
    A few days later, the thief was hauled before Judge Elvin Thomas.  He stated, "They got me cold, Judge.  I guess I'll plead guilty."  The prosecutor said, "Judge, this varmint done stole over $1000 from Mr. Thompson here and he needs to make res-ti-too-shun."  Scowling at the defendant, Judge Thomas said, "You got the money to make res-ti-too-shun?"  "Ain't got a cent, your honor." "Well," said the judge, " the first rule of how to be a successful thief is not to steal more than you can pay back.  Thirty months in prison." 
    And the case of the little black bag caper was solved.
                                                                   
                                                                         

PRR Modeler

Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
Freelanced PRR Bellevue Subdivision

Judge

Thank you, Curt.  WOW! You read today's story before I got finished writing it.

ReadingBob

Wonderful story Bill!  Keep 'em coming and stay healthy!

The A&S has some activity going on up in Lake Mary as well.  My workbench is currently home to a structure that's destined for the Summit level of the A&S someday.  ;)

Bob Butts
robertbutts1@att.net

There's a fine line between Hobby and Mental Illness.

BandOGuy

Thanks judge for keeping us smiling through all of this and what you personally must be going through now.
Your ever grateful fans.
Working on my second million. I gave up on the first.

GPdemayo

Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

GPdemayo

The storage building is looking good Bob..... 8)
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

ACL1504

Another winner by His Honor. It reminds me of the ice caper when the porter was taking ice from the cadaver casket.

Tom ;D
"If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed."
Thomas Jefferson

Tom Langford
telsr1@aol.com

bparrish

A question for you southeastern boys.

I grew up in Chicago and my dad worked the tariff offices for the Q from 35 to 81. In the early fifties, 53-55-57, we would take the train to Atlanta to visit my mom's older brother and my cousins.  Usually in the summer at the early end of July.

We took a coach out of Chicago and connected up to something going south at Cincinnati.  My recollection was that it was called the Royal Palm.  Who ran that train? Southern or ACL?

We always took coach as my dad didn't have a Pullman pass until he made management in the early 60's. 


Thanx
Bob
Did you ever notice how many towns are named after their water towers ! ?

GPdemayo

Bob,


This is the info  found:

From Cincinnati to Chattanooga - Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway

From Chattanooga to Atlanta - Southern's former East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia

From Atlanta to Jacksonville - Georgia Southern & Florida
Gregory P. DeMayo
General Construction Superintendent Emeritus
St. Louis & Denver Railroad
Longwood, FL

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