The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[GPdemayo]

Beware of young guys with college degrees in hand. 

[PRR Modeler]

Great story.  Some things never change.

[Judge]

Saturday Report - January 15, 2021
    There is no Saturday Report today.  Your reporter is a little under the weather.  Hopefully, normal railroad activities will resume next Saturday.
    There is a story.  The story has its basis from a tale included in the May, 1938 Railroad Magazine.  But that tale involved a mountain lion in the Rockies.

                                                                                        The Cat That Came in From the Cold

      Florida has quite a variety of wild game and wild animals.  Everybody knows about "gators," but Florida has a large population of huge black bears, deer, wild hogs, and other creatures.  But the Florida panther is perhaps the most exotic of Florida's wildlife.  These cats are becoming rare, but in 1950 there were a large number of them.  Florida panthers are members of the cougar family and can weigh in at 160 lbs. or more and measure over 7 feet from nose to tip of the tail.  They can be aggressive and have been known to stalk humans as well as other prey.

   The winter in Florida in 1950 included some rather cold days.  The humidity stays relatively high in the winter and when the temperature dips to close to freezing, it can be bone-chilling cold.
   It was one of those cold days in the winter of 1950 when a local freight powered by an ACL Russian decapod chugged out of the Sanlando Yard on its way to Piney Woods to pick up pulpwood cars for transport to Summit, where they would be coupled to the next freight bound for the paper mill in Jacksonville.
   Engineer Russell Baker and his fireman, Jim, ran the caboose hop to the freight depot at Piney Woods. They climbed down from the cab and went into the freight house to drink a cup of hot coffee.
   After finishing their coffee, Baker started to "grease the pig" while Jim climbed back into the cab to bring the engine back up to steam.  To his astonishment, Jim saw a full-grown Florida panther warming himself in front of the firebox door.  Jim let out a holler and jumped back down the ladder to safety. 
   Engineer Baker and Jim huddled together to decide what to do about the large cat that had decided to make Number 1000 its temporary home.  Since neither man was armed, they had to figure out a way to dislodge the cat without gunfire. 
   Baker thought up a plan.  He told Jim to climb up the end of the tank and reach down for the water hose the fireman used to hose down the deck.  Meanwhile, Baker would climb up the front of the engine, walk down to the cab window, and reach inside for the whistle cord.  At his signal, Jim would squirt the cat with water from the tank and Baker would blow the whistle to frighten the animal. 
   The plan worked.  The cat was startled when the whistle blew and the cold water from the hose caused the same reaction that most cats would have.  The cat leaped from the cab and landed on its feet about ten feet from the engine.  When last seen, the cat was heading into Piney Woods. 
   Baker turned to Jim and said, "See, Jim, he just wanted to get warm, like any other pussycat.  He just picked the wrong hearth."     

                                                                             

[Blazeman]

You could say the fur went flying.

[BandOGuy]

Well, if that ain't just the cat's meow.

[jrmueller]

Great story for a cold rainy day.

[PRR Modeler]

Funny story Bill. I hope you feel better soon.

[GPdemayo]

I guess the cat didn't want to be the A&S mascot.....good one Bill.....get well and see you next Saturday. 

[ACL1504]

The Florida Panther has a rather high pitched scream. I was camping in the Ocala National Forest with my cousin and two of them were calling each other. The high pitched scream sounds very much like a woman screaming. It can be quite unsettling when awakened out of a sound sleep.

It's a sound you don't forget, like the smell of hemp and rotting flesh. Just saying. 

Tom 

[Judge]

Saturday Report - January 23, 2021.

There is no Saturday Report today.  Your reporter has developed back pain that requires medical attention.  An appointment with an orthopedic physician is scheduled next week.  in addition, one of your Reporter's long-time friends from military school days passed away yesterday from Covid.  That is scary!  Your reporter is scheduled for his second vaccine shot next week and he is going to keep a low profile until the vaccine is effective in February. 

The story this week is in response to the many (2) requests for me to relate stories from my twenty-four years as a trial judge here in beautiful Central Florida.  I must post a disclaimer - I tried to avoid being assigned to any caseload that included divorces.  I found them to be tedious and many, but not all, of the divorce lawyers were under-skilled and grossly overpaid.  Naturally, I could not avoid a divorce caseload every year so I managed to have a number of memorable cases.  The story this week combines a few of them for your entertainment.
   
Remember, before you read this week's story, the Atlantic & Southern Railroad is set in the 1950-51 time frame.  The famous novel, Peyton Place, was not published until 1956, but there were plenty of small towns like Peyton Place all over America and Tahope was one of them.

                                                                                                           SCANDAL IN TAHOPE PART I

   Regular readers of the Saturday Report will recall Peaches Weaver, whose mother, Rose, is married to J. Pierpont Forester, the president of the Tahope State Bank.  (See Law Abiding Citizens and The Rest of the Story, pp. 10-11).  Scandals in a small town are usually generally widely rumored by the locals and sometimes the victim of the scandal is the last to know. 
   Folks around Tahope had their suspicions about Rose Forester and Officer Eldridge Poovey for months.  Poovey's patrol car had been seen parked in the Forester's driveway on several occasions.  Rose's Cadillac and Officer Poovey's patrol car had been seen parked next to the freight house service track where the solarium/sleeper Pullman was spotted on a couple of Thursday evenings during the bank's board of director's meetings.  (The Atlantic & Southern does not own any passenger equipment outright.  It leases the Pullman solarium/sleeper.  The mayor, the city councilmen, the Police Chief, and other local dignitaries, including J. Pierpont Forester, use the car to play poker on Friday nights and the A&S hauls the car with the same dignitaries to Gainesville to attend University of Florida football games each fall.)
   One Friday morning in early 1950, Pierpont Forester came down for breakfast before leaving to go to work at the bank.  Rose seemed quieter than usual.  Pierpont noticed her hair was still in curlers and she was in her bathrobe. 
        "Rose," said Pierpont, "you seem depressed.  Is there something I can do to improve your mood?"
        "No!" said Rose.
         Thinking that doing something nice might help, Pierpont said, "Rose, do you want me to get you that diamond necklace we saw at Tiffany's in New York last summer?  Would that cheer you up?" 
         "No!" said Rose.
         "Well," said Pierpont, "would you want for me to buy that beautiful home we saw in Hawaii?  You know, the one that overlooked the ocean?" 
          "No!" said Rose.
          "Well, Rose, what do you want?"
          "I want a divorce!" said Rose.
          "I dunno, honey," said Pierpont, "I hadn't planned on spending that much money."

          To be continued.



     

[deemery]

"Divorce" is such an unpleasant experience, I wouldn't wish it on my ex-wife!   

dave 

[ReadingBob]

I love how your tales bring the layout to life.


I sure hope the back issue gets alleviated quickly.  Stay safe and healthy my friend.  Still waiting to see when I can even try to get the vaccine.  I'm a couple of years shy of the threshold at the moment.

[PRR Modeler]

Interesting story Bill, I look forward to part II.

[GPdemayo]

A cliffhanger.....come on Bill let's hear the rest of the story. 

[ACL1504]

I, on the other hand, had one of the Judges old law partners for my divorce lawyer. I paid $1,500.00 and he easily saved me over $100,00.00 in my divorce. 

Tom