Atlantic & Southern Saturday Repot[ - Nov. 15m 2925

Greetings!  The Board of Directors of the Atlantic & Southern Railroad met promptly at 0830 hours.

There was no real agenda so we engaged in chit-chat about our activities last week and looked over the construction progress on Farmer Perkins' barn.

We focused on two steam locos this morning.  The first is an L&N L1 4-82.  A new decoder was installed in this engine last week and we tried to make some adjustments to ensure smoother operation.  Tom has diagnosed a problem with the plastic tube that connects the motor to the drive mechanism and he will try to solve the problem this week.

The second steamer we ran was the "new" 2-10-2 we purchased from Howard Zane over ten years ago.  Beautiful engine.  It has a Vanderbilt tender and ACL markings.  Unfortunately, it probably needs some lubrication maintenance.  We will see how that goes next week also.

We successfully moved the Champion (Powered by ACL E8's from The Midlands to Summit to clear out a track for other operations. 

There will be no meeting next week and no Saturday Report.

This week's story is a tale of a local judge who understands the people who come before him and can dispose of a case based upon the seriousness of the crime and the circumstances of the defendant.

I received some enthusiastic positive feedback about last week's story.  Judge Elvin P. Thomas could best bs described as an "Old Timey Florida Judge." Tahope County is a small, rural  county and Judge Thomas usually "knows the people" who come before him.

Judge Thomas was taking pleas one morning when the name of Albert Williams came up on the docket.  Williams was known by the court personnel as a "frequent flyer," due to his record of numerous petty offenses.  HE appeared before the court to enter a plea to auto theft. 

Judge Thomas took a look at the file.  The arrest report stated the arresting officer caught Williams trying to hot wire a pick-up truck.  He was arrested on the spot and charged with auto theft.  The prosecutor insisted on a three year prison sentence due to Williams' prior record.

Judge Thomas asked Williams several questions to make sure the plea was made freely and voluntarily.

The judge said, "Now Albert, do you understand you are charged with auto theft?  Do you want to enter a plea to that charge?

Williams replied, "Judge, I didn't steal a damn thing!.

"I know," said the judge, "but in Florida trying to steal something is the same as stealing it."

"That don't seem right to me," said Williams.

"It don't seem right to me either," said the judge.  "Thirty days." 

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The link below illustrates the wide variety of industries served by the Atlantic and Southern Railroad.

The train captured in the video is hauling a truly rare earth mineral called Grip-u-tite.  It has been the subject of much research by big pharma because it can be used to combine milk of magnesia and Kaopectate, which the military uses in psychological operations. Swallowing the stuff makes you want to go but you can't. 

The stuff is so valuable it is transported by armed convoy with a troop carrier, artillery for protection, and two mobile military police stations. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsy1Nn9PbBE

Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report - November 8, 2025

The Board of Directors met promptly at 0830 hours.  The agenda was light for a change and the subjects were mostly small talk about travels and local adventures.  No real discussion about the railroad.  That period of non-productivity was interrupted by the arrival of Curt Webb and his dad who watched the train moves until we adjourned for lunch at Del Dio's. 

We fired up the USRA Pacific, number 1516, and put her to work with a string of fifteen cars and a brass caboose.  1516 is a PFM model my dad bought for me in 1965.  He paid $55.00 for it, which was a lot of money in those days.

We switched to diesel power and ran the L&N E6s with a passenger train.  Then we couped up an E8 lash-up with cars reserved for our signature passenger train, the ACL Champion. 

 It is time to introduce Judge Elvin P. Thomas, the local circuit judge in Tahope County.  Judge Thomas was born in Polk County, Florida  in 1888.  He graduated from the University of Florida's College of Law in 1913 and was elected to the circuit court without opposition in 1928.  At age 62, he is just getting into his prime and has secured the reputation of being fair to all who come before him.  He has a spittoon at his feet by his bench and he uses it regularly.
 
Being an elected official, he tends to hang out with the City of Tahope's mayor, city council members, and the police chief.  They call business off by 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and meet for a poker game in the Pullman diner/observation car spotted in the spur just north of the city.  Gambling is prohibited in Florida so the poker players play with poker chips and settle up privately after the game.  A retired Pullman porter, Albert Washington, provides bartender, cook, and bottle washer duties during the game.

This week's story involves our vagabond friends Newt Fisher and his first cousin, Donnie "Short Stack," Turner, both of whom used to live with their parents in the cracker shacks at Eaton's Curve.  Since their eviction from those premises, they have taken up residence in the Bottoms, where they live the carefree life of hobos and occasionally get into difficulties.  The piece today relates the rainy summer evening when they decided to steal a steam locomotive.




It gets real dark after the sun goes down during the summer in Central Florida and it is especially dark in the freight yard at Sanlando.  Add 98-degree temperature, 98% humidity, clouds and a drizzling rain, and not even the night watchman would venture out into the freight yard.

One summer night, Newt and Short Stack were up to mischief.  They crept into the yard at Sanlando and checked out the rolling stock to see if there was anything of value that was loose.  They had a modicum of success when they found a ventilated box car with the door open containing fresh fruit.  After eating their fill, they wandered down the track towards the Pure Oil storage facility.  It was there they discovered a steam switch engine coupled to two tank cars panting inside the fenced enclosure.  It was ACL's 1150, an 0-6-0 - and the gate to the fuel tank enclosure was open.

They uncoupled the tank cars and climbed into the cab. Short Stack, who had some limited experience as a hostler, shoveled coal into the firebox to bring the steam pressure up.  In a few minutes the pressure was up enough to move the engine so they decided to go for a ride.  Short Stack put the reverse lever in the back corner and cracked the throttle for a little steam.  The engine responded and slowly backed out into the yard.  They became more adventurous and added a little steam as they headed for the main line.  Newt threw the switch at the end of the yard and soon the two amateur railroaders were heading towards Eaton's curve.  It was there they decided to blow the whistle to show off to their parents (who live in the cracker shacks located there) and that brought them to the attention of Officer Poovey of the Tahope Police Department, who gave chase in his police cruiser.  Our adventurers abandoned the switcher in the vicinity of Barlow's Bar-B-Que and were subsequently arrested without further incident.  They were charged with Grand Theft.

Newt and Short Stack pooled their meagre savings and hired Tahope's only lawyer, Marvin Bello, to represent them.  Bello worked cheap and he never lost a case.

When Bello appeared before Judge Elvin P. Thomas on the day of trial, Bello moved to dismiss the charges.  The judge agreed.  "No larceny," declared His Honor, "the locomotive never left A&S property."  No charges were brought for the fruit that was stolen due to lack of evidence because defendants had "et the evidence."

A reporter from the Tahope Daily Blatter interviewed Newt as he left the courtroom. When asked about his participation in the loco caper, Newt remarked, "I was tempted to succeed at doing something memorable this week, but I got arrested before anything happened."

So, our heroes returned to The Bottoms, where they had a fried catfish dinner from catfish they had noodled and blue crabs Newt's dad gave them.  A few of the "wimmins" who live in The Bottoms, including two sisters named Razzle and Dazzle, helped them eat the vittles and washed the dishes in the river.
Life is good when you are at large without bond.

P.S.  Sorry about the editing.  I swear i will get used to this confusing format.  At least I got the photo pasted in place.  BTW, 0-6-0 1150 is a NWSL loco.  We have a couple of them.  Excellent engines of USRA design.  Most ACL locos were USRA engines or close copies.  Hooray for Mr. McAdoo! 

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Thanks for the comments.  I am still relearning how to post photographs on the forum.  I'm a cut and paste man and the process to post a photo is unnecessarily complicated. 

ATLANTIC & SOUTHERN SATURDAY REPORT 10-25-25

The Board of Directors met at 0830 hours.  The main topic was the substantial number of new palm trees recently planted in the Midlands near Sanlando.  These palms really give the area a Florida feel. 

After the Palm inspection, we ran 2016, the 2-10-2 that was featured in the video attached to this report last week.  Then we coupled 1516, a USRA Pacific to a string of mixed freight and opened her up to speed step 50.  "Chuffinity" is a great improvement over regular TCS WOW Sound.  I am going to contact TCS next week and try to get some information about how to better set the sound options.  We have been pretty successful playing with the new system but we need some advice on how to get the most out of it.  You would think that TCS would realize that senior railroaders prefer to learn by reading manuals instead of doing whatever 16 year-olds do.

Lunch at Del Dio's and we take a week off so Tom can drivee up I-95 to South Carolina to visit two of his sisters. 

This week's story is a rerun of one of my favorites.  If you've heard it before, hear it again.  I am continuing to introduce some of the people who make the Atlantic & Southern Railroad make it what it is.  Today we meet some of the people who maintain the railroad, most of whom are Irish imports who have escaped New Youk, Boston, or Chicago because of the winters there.  Some of them are boomers, while others have gotten Florida sand in their shoes and have decided to stick around.

Michael O'Toole was promoted to Chief Civil Engineer in 1950.  He was slowly getting into his new job.  O'Toole sent his buddy, a big Irishman named Malone, to be the boss of the track maintenance section in the Tahope District. 

The events that took place on Malone's first day on the job are related here as told by one of the Irish section workers, Brian O'Sullivan, in his own words. 

"Malone was a fine man.  Being Irish, he liked his whiskey, but he never did ask the section to buy him none.  That summer, he hired a fella named Short Stack to be the jack man on the track.  We were removing abandoned rails at the north end of the Midlands and it was one hot day - tempertures in the high 90s.  When noon came, we got our dinner pails, and as we ware all used to the hot sun, we sat right down on the track to eat our dinners.  Malone took his coat and laid it right down on the track to sit on to keep the rail from burning him, as the sun had made the track as hot as a cooking stove.  When he throwed his coat down it landed on a rail joint, which was open about an inch, maybe more.

That morning, Short Stack had broken the handle on his spike mall and he got to fixin' it while we ate lunch so he would have it when we started back to werk.  He got he new handle in place and needed to test it out so he gave a good wack to the end of the rail where Malone was sitting.  He never thought the blow would cause the joint to close, but that joint went together with a bang and caught the flesh of Malone's hind parts and took out a slug as big as fifty cents.  We had to pull him off that joint and he hollered bludy murder and every other thing he could holler. 

WE halled him off into Tahope to the A&S Doctor, Minnie Staysic, and he had a bad time with it.  He showed it to me after it healed up and you would never think it would make a scar as bad as it did. 

Short Stack visited Malone in the hospital and he made his peace with him.  Malone knew he didn't man to do it so he recommended he be promoted to brakeman so he wouldn't have to use hand tools at werk, except a club. 

Short Stack took a few days off in The Bottoms before he went to braking.  Malone was promoted to superintendent on the Jacksonville district.



[img]https://modelersforum.com/gallery/684-310819154401.jpeg[/img

Thank all of you for your kind comments. 

Rick - The Perkins family members are all fans of Edgar Allen Poe, forevermore.

Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report 10-19-25
No board meeting this week.

About ten years ago, Tom Langford, Bob Butts and I drove to Scranton, PA, for a train show.  On the way, we stopped in Maryland and called on Howard Zane.  He had an HO scale model of a heavy USRA 2-10-2 to which he had attached a Vanderbilt tender and decorated it for the ACL.  I bought it from him and we had WOW Sound installed.  Unfortunately, the plastic tube connecting the motor to the gearbox was a mite too big and it would cause the shaft to slip when the engine got warm.  Well, the engine sat on the shelf for about a decade until I recently found some tubing that was the right size.  We had TCS upgrade the decoder to the newest version that includes "Chuffinity." 

In 1925, the ACL ordered ten 2-10-2's from Baldwin Locomotive Works.  The engines were basically of the USRA Heavy design, but they were somewhat heavier, they had 210 psi steam pressure instead of 190 psi and had tractive effort of 74,000 lbs.  They were the most powerful engines the Coast Line ever had.

I ran across a water color painting of one of these engines on line and it is attached.

Tom has recently gone into the movie business and he made a video featuring the 2-10-2.  I have attached the link for your pleasure.  I am impressed with the video, especially because it is a "first effort."  We haven't decided on a name for the Atlantic & Southern Movie Production Company, but I am sure we will come up with something. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJVldRDVex4

Today's story continues to serve as an introduction to some of the characters who live and work in Tahope County, Florida, which, as you know, is a fictitious county located somewhere in a Central Florida Swamp.

Today we will become acquainted with farmer Patrick Perkins and his kin.

Perkins farm is located South of Piney Woods and across the river on the East side of the Atlantic & Southern Railroad.  Just before the war started in 1914, the A&S bought the right to run a cut through Perkins Farm for the expansion of railroad services to that part of the area.  The railroad built a wooden bridge across the new rail line so Farmer Perkins could get to his cattle on the other side of the cut.

Farmer Perkins acquired the farm from his father, Percey Perkins, who bought the farm in 1905 before the A&S made its first expansion.  Grandpa Perkins still lives on the farm with the family.  He supervises the harvest of oranges from the Perkins' orange grove every November-December, depending on when the first "cold snap" comes through and ripens the fruit.

Farmer Perkins is married to Paula Dean Perkins, who is famous for her contributions to the annual cooking contest at the Tahope Baptist Church each fall.  She likes to serve "good old Florida Cracker Food, such as grits, swamp cabbage, fried soft shell crabs, turtle stew, and gator tail, which tastes "just like chickin'.  Local wild duck, quail, and venison ar also popular on the menue.  (Paula makes sure the buckshot pellets are removed before serving.)

The swamp cabbage comes from Florida's cabbage palms, which have an edible heart that can be harvested, chopped and fried or stewed with bacon, onions, and almost any other vegetable.  "Plain folks" in Tahope County have grown up on swamp cabbage and other delicacies, including catfish, shrimp, and blue crabs.

The Perkins have three children: Peter Perkins is age 16, Perry Perkins is age 16, and Patricia Perkins is age 12.  Patricia is called "Fatty Patty" by all who know her.

Pete and Perry "help out" with the chores on the farm.  They arise before sunup every day and put in a couple of hours before breakfast, which is served at 7:00 a.m.  Breakfast consists of orange juice, eggs, bacon, pork sausage, grits, and biscuits.  Sometimes fried catfish is substituted for the sausage.  Pete picks the oranges from the grove and Perry squeezes the juice.

Fatty Patty is of the age when most young girls become a discipline problem.  She is supposed to help her mother with the cooking and cleaning but she has become extremely lazy and has to be "spoken to."  She wines a lot.  (The photo shows Fatty Patty sitting on her lazy patootie at the edge of the front porch, while being scolded by her Grandpa for not bringing the laundry in from the clothesline before the afternoon ACL freight stormed by spewing boiler water and coal soot all over creation.  Farmer Perkins has had enough of the squabble and is sitting on the other side of the porch.

There are more chores in store when the children get home from school.  Fatty Patty has to help Paula fix "suppa" by shelling peas, shucking corn, or going to the garden to pick okra and tomatoes to be served over rice.  She does these chores under great protest.  - "Aw, ma, do I have to?"  Sometimes she loses her privilege to play her 78 rpm records on her victrola when she misbehaves.

 This week's Saturday Report will be delayed due to operator error and inability to manage photographs.  Hopefully, the problem will be solved by tomorrow morning.

Saturday Report in progress.

There will be no meeting of the A&S Board of Directors tomorrow, but there will be a story.  Try connecting around 3:00 p.m.

Thank all of you for taking the time to respond to last Saturday's story.  I appreciate the comments.

Thank all of you for your kind comments. 

The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report for October 11, 2025.

The Board of Directors met at 0830 hours.  The main discussion was the adjustments needed on the new TCS WOW Sound decoder that features "Chuffinity."  This feature makes steam locomotive sounds more realistic.  The chuffing sound varies with the speed, track level, track conditions, and weight of the train.  Unfortunately, the default settings on the decoder were not satisfactory and TCS has not published a manual to explain how to improve them.  (Those of us who are our age, still read manuals.)  We consulted the latest TCS manual dated 2014, and decided to use it and find out if we could improve the decoder's performance.  We could and we did.  For those of you who have these excellent decoders, give us a shout and we will tell you the settings we selected.
You would think that a company like TCS would shoot a video to explain "Chuffinity."  Instead, they have a "run-by" that explains nothing.  There is a video produced by someone else, but it isn't much help either.  We are sure a 12-year-old will come up with a video explaining the settings.

Recently, your reporter began to introduce the readers to some of the inhabitants of Tahope County who live in the Midlands.  Introductions will continue over the next few weeks, and perhaps a tale or two will be told about the characters you have previously met.  Today we meander down the mainline from Sanlando Station, to Eaton's Curve, which is named after a famous Florida Circuit Judge.

The Inhabitants of Eaton's Curve

Perhaps you have heard the name "Florida Cracker." The name comes from the 1880's when Florida's version of cowpokes lived in the Central Florida area.  The sound their whips made when they herded cattle was a "crack;" hence the name.  Many of their ancestors live in Tahope.  They drive pick-up trucks with rifle racks in the back window and hunt alligators, deer and ducks.    They have Confederate Flag license plates on the front of their trucks.
There are two "cracker shacks" on Eaton's curve.  These shacks have been in place for many years and are in need of indoor plumbing and general maintenance.  There is a small cornfield located adjacent to the lot on which the shacks are located.  A good bit of the corn finds its way to Piney Woods where "idle folk" have a still and make mighty good corn squeezins. The residents of Eaton's Curve have "tied in" to electric power provided by the Tahope Power Co.  The power company does not charge them for electrical usage because they are not listed as customers.
Most "working folks" in Tahope County are related to each other some way or another.  Their family trees have very few branches.  Tallula Fisher lives with her common law husband, Luke, in one of the Cracker Shacks located on Eaton's Curve.  Luke, makes a living harvesting blue crabs from his crab traps on the St. Johns River.  The crab traps sit on the river bottom with a "float" attached to mark their location.  The traps are baited with chicken necks Luke gets from Farmer Perkins in exchange for a share of the crabs.  Florida is the only state in the union that makes it a felony to "molest a crab trap," so Luke guards his traps with a shotgun from a flat-bottomed boat to ward off would-be crab molesters.  Luke augments his crab traps by attaching a line with a chicken neck on it and dropping it to the river bottom near a channel marker.  The critters grab the chicken neck and hold on while Luke reels them in to meet their fate.
Luke works part-time for the A&S Railroad when crabs are not in season.  He "sweeps up" and "helps out" at the depot in Sanlando.

  Tallula spends her days mostly cleaning their shack and doing laundry, which she takes in from neighbors to supplement the family income.  Her washing machine is on the backt porch near the clothes line, which is located in the back yard next to  the house.  Coal dust from passing steam locomotives give her "whites" a distinctive grey color.

Luke and Tallula have a son named Newton Ray Lee, but his friends call him Newt.
Newt is tall, strong, and surprisingly verbal.  He tried to join the navy during the War, but was turned down when he flunked the psychological test.  (He has a pathological fear of accomplishment.)  He is pushing 30 years of age and has never had a job that lasted more than a week or two.  Newt lives with Luke and Talula when he is not in jail or sleeping in The Bottoms.

Vergil Turner and his wife, Daisey, live in the other shack on Eaton's curve.  (Daisey gets her name because most of the citizens in Tahope tend to name all their "wimmin young'uns" after flowers or plants.)  Vergil is Luke's half-brother.  They have a son named Donny, but his friends call him "Short Stack."  Short Stack is a few years younger than his cousin, Newt.  When Daisey, who is blond, thought she might be pregnant with Short Stack, she went to the Tahope family practitioner, Dr. Minnie Staysic, to find out.  After Dr. Staysic confirmed Daisey's condition, she asked her if she had any questions.  Her only question was "Is it mine?"  Short Stack inherited his mother's intelligence.

Virgil's main source of income is sale of moonshine.

Short Stack helps Luke harvest crabs sometimes and other times he rides in the truck with Vergil down to the Sanlando Depot to help Luke clean the place up.  Short Stack gets $.87 an hour for his labor, which he likes to spend at the pool hall in Tahope.
Recently, Newt and Short Stack "went to railroading."  They bummed around Florida looking for odd jobs in railroad yards and accumulating minor criminal charges.

  Disappointed in their career advancement, they have abandoned all full-time employment and have "taken up as homeless vagabonds" in The Bottoms of the A& S Railroad, where they subsist on odd jobs, petty thefts and the fish and other critters they can catch.  They sleep in a lean-to covered with Palmetto fronds.  They keep a fire going in front of the lean-to, with a pot of hot Mulligan stew simmering from dawn until late in the evening.
The vittles are shared with other vagabonds, hobos, and bums who pass through The Bottoms, hoping to nail a ride on a "Pullman Box Car" to parts elsewhere.  The Mulligan stew is "help yourself," provided each hungry traveler contributes something to the pot or shares a bottle of shine from Piney Woods to take the edge off.

Short Stack is in charge of "obtaining" the ingredients for the Mulligan stew when other drifters are not about.  He gets fish, crabs, and turtles from the Tahope and St. Johns Rivers and traps small gators.  The turtles and gator tails dress nicely for the stew and the fish are fried over the fire. (Gator tails taste "jus like chickin.")  The crabs are boiled in river water.  Short Stack's Aunt Betty, who owns Sweaty Betty's Diner, occasionally gives him one of her pies to take back with him for after dinner.

Luke recently learned that his aunt, Mildred Fisher, age 86, who is from Estel Springs (pronounced " Es-tell Sprangs"), Tennessee, would be paying them a visit.  She arrived by train on a Thursday and intended to stay for several weeks. 

The next day, Aunt Mildred needed to take a big number 2, so she headed to the two-holer outhouse located behind the Fisher's shack.
Florida has a lot of things that are either annoying or dangerous.  For example, Florida has a variety of insects, including wasps, sometimes called "yellow jackets" but usually called "wausses" by the locals. 

Unbeknownst to Aunt Mildred, a nest of wausses had attached themselves underneath the seat of the outhouse right next to the hole she selected for use.  When she sat for what she believed would be a leisurely sojourn, several off the wausses took offense and stung her on her most tsender spots.  In a nanosecond, Aunt Mildred was up and running.  She didn't stop until she boarded the ACL Champion and headed back to Tennessee.
Talulla heard all the commotion coming from the back yard so she asked Newt if he knew the wausses were under the outhouse seat.  "No um," said Newt.  I ain't had 'casion to use it today." 

But Newt and Short Stack had a good laugh about it before they smoked the critters out of the outhouse that afternoon.

Saturday report delayed until tomorrow morning.  Sorry.

Curt -  The timetable I used was from 1938.  The Southwind's predecessor was the Dixie Flyer.  The Chicago to Miami Southwind did not make its maiden run until 1940.