The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[Judge]

  There is no formal Saturday Report today because the A&S has been shut down due to "the Babe's" monthly hair appointment in Mount Dora.  No one knows how Mount Dora got its name.  The highest spot in the city can't be more than a foot above sea level.  Never-the-less, Mount Dora natives drive cars with bumper stickers that say "I climbed Mount Dora."

    Since there has been some enthusiasm for my Saturday Reports from Forum members, I have decided to occasionally provide information about the Atlantic and Southern Railroad to those who care to learn about it. 
    I have to admit that many of my stories had their origin in a book my father gave me years ago entitled "A Treasury of Railroad Folklore."  I have tried to change the stories to fit the particular circumstances of the A&S, but some of the information necessarily contains direct quotations.  I am also limited by the format limitations of the Forum.  It would be much easier if it were Word compatible. 
    I understand this first tale has some truth in it involving the purchase of the Hudson River Railroad by Commodore Vanderbilt in the late 1800's.

                                                                        HOW THE ATLANTIC & SOUTHERN WAS ACQUIRED

     The previous owners of the Atlantic & Southern were all members of the Bixbie family.  The patriarch of that family, Alphonse (Big Al) Bixby, found smoking to be offensive and prohibited it on any of his trains.
     One day, Commodore Vanderbilt happened to be riding on the A&S in order to connect with the ACL on his southern jaunt to Palm Beach.  (Flagler's FEC was enduring one of its many labor strikes at the time.)  The Commodore decided to take a trip from his stateroom to the baggage car and smoke one of his famous black Cuban cigars. 
     The A&S conductor happened into the baggage car just as the Commodore was lighting up.  The conductor tapped him on the shoulder and said, "There is no smoking allowed on this train."  "That is what I understand," the Commodore replied, and continued to smoke.  The conductor became more forceful and threatened to remove the Commodore from the train if he didn't put out his cigar.  The Commodore stated, "Do you know who I am?"  The conductor replied, "I don't care who you are, I am here to enforce the rules of this here railroad."  The Commodore replied, "You know, I like you.  You know how to enforce the rules.  I think I may just buy this railroad."  And, wouldn't you know it, the Commodore bought the railroad.  Shortly afterwards, he realized he didn't really want a railroad that wandered mainly through a Florida swamp and sold it at a loss to the present owners, who have relaxed the rule prohibiting the use of tobacco by providing spittoons in every passenger car.  Oh, by the way, a condition of the sale required the A&S to keep the Conductor on his post.   


                                                                                               

[jerryrbeach]

Judge,


I, for one, greatly appreciate your information regarding the Atlantic & Southern.  Because this is a G rated forum, let me just say that I have to wonder if Mount Dora could possibly have been named after a lady that was overly generous with her personal favors.  After all, that might explain any deeper meaning behind those somewhat politically incorrect bumper stickers. 


Further, I find it interesting that the A&S allows tobacco on their passenger cars since I believe the road's current president abstains from any type of alcoholic beverage. 




I am not certain what you refer to when you say the forum is not "word compatible".  I often type some of my longer posts for construction threads as a word document, do a final edit,  and then simply copy and paste them into the reply box. 

[S&S RR]

I'm enjoying your reports Judge. Great addition to the forum.

[PRR Modeler]

Interesting story Judge.

[jimmillho]

Now the truth shall come out and be known to all who enter here (this is not a quote).

Jim

[MAP]

I'll certainly be following along on the history/folk lore of the A&S! 

[Judge]

Jerry, et al.  I appreciate your analysis of the origin of the name of the Town of Mt. Dora.  I will make inquiry of the mayor and endeavor to get his take on the subject. 

As for the use of tobacco and booze on the A&S . . . .  it is 1950-51 on the A&S and smoking is the norm in all public places.  I'm sure you recall reading about the millions of people who died each week from second hand smoke in 1950, as well as the thousands of children who perished for not being strapped into child safety seats, facing backwards towards the plastic seat covers.  It is a wonder any of us survived.  All of our parents would have been arrested for "child neglect" if it were today.  But that is progress.

As for "Word" limitations, I have not tried to copy and paste a document with footnotes into the forum page, but I have noticed the limitation on centering titles.  I am not complaining.  The forum was not created for essays from authors who have advanced technology training and are skilled in mimicking the prose of Lucius Bebee.  It is more for those who tweet and twitter.  But I shall use the tools available and press on with spinning my tales of the adventures of the Atlantic and Southern. 

Anyway, I am pleased that some of you are enjoying my whimsical look at the Railroad.      

[PaulS]

Thanks Judge, I will throw my hat in the ring as well saying that I look forward to and enjoy your tales and insights of the A&S RR.
Thanks again and all the best,
--Paul

[GPdemayo]

Love the tales you are weaving Bill.....wasn't it wonderful that those Southern boys got such a great deal on the A&S from that fella from the cold north.....kinda of makes ya wonder. 

[ACL1504]

As the new owner and President of the Atlantic and Southern RR, I must set the record straight. The Judge was very conservative and polite when telling the story of our Mt. Dora. I, on the other hand, just says what gots to be said.

Mt. Dora got the name from an early 1800's homesteader named, Ms. Dora Ann Drawdy. She was an independent cuse. Now we don't really know much about Ms. Dora except she befriended many of the federal surveyors in the area. She was also known for her warm hospitality and the surveyors named the lake after her rather "friendly" moments with them.

She homesteaded on what is now called Lake Dora in Mt. Dora. Now Dora was a big lady. She weighed almost 225 pounds, smoked a corncob pipe and chewed tobackie. She crushed Lantana flowers under her armpits for deodorant.

Due to her size and friendliness, one surveyor came up with the laogan, "I climbed Mount Dora."

[GPdemayo]

As the new owner and President of the Atlantic and Southern RR, I must set the record straight. The Judge was very conservative and polite when telling the story of our Mt. Dora. I, on the other hand, just says what gots to be said.

Mt. Dora got the name from an early 1800's homesteader named, Ms. Dora Ann Drawdy. She was an independent cuse. Now we don't really know much about Ms. Dora except she befriended many of the federal surveyors in the area. She was also known for her warm hospitality and the surveyors named the lake after her rather "friendly" moments with them.

She homesteaded on what is now called Lake Dora in Mt. Dora. Now Dora was a big lady. She weighed almost 225 pounds, smoked a corncob pipe and chewed tobackie. She crushed Lantana flowers under her armpits for deodorant.

Due to her size and friendliness, one surveyor came up with the laogan, "I climbed Mount Dora."

.....and that's the rest of the story.....

[ACL1504]

Commodore Vanderbilt dang near ruined the A&S RR. To him it was just another tax write off. Prior to him selling the railroad to the present owner, he nearly scrapped all the rolling stock. There are no A&S passenger cars remaining on the roster.

At one time, the current owners discussed renaming the railroad the Atlantic Southern System. That decision was dropped after someone said it would then be known as the ASS railroad.


A few locomotives did survive along with two hoppers, three boxcars and one caboose.

The two hoppers are still in revenue service as well as the caboose. The boxcars are in the car shop getting upgraded for revenue service. The locos are also being upgraded.

It has taken several years to get the A&S RR back earning revenue. At one point the resident Ticket Agent was going to have the Judge apply for a federal grant so new equipment could be purchased. After a very short board meeting, the decision was also made to not apply for the federal grant as the government has no business interfering in our business.

[ReadingBob]

Add me to the list of dedicated followers of the Saturday Report.     I love it!   

[deemery]

I'm sure there'll be a discussion of the legal history of the A&S at some point from Hizzoner the Judge.  Many railroads had really wild legal history, so this story should be a doozey.  (And to my great surprise, some of what I learned about things like proxy fights from reading railroad history turned out to be useful in 1-1 scale, when the company I worked for was involved in a lawsuit for control.  The two parties each owned about 48% of the stock, so the actual control was in the hands of the dozen or so employees who held the remaining 4%.  Lots of stories from that experience!  At one point, i had a stack of legal filings and exhibits about 6" tall.)


dave

[GPdemayo]

I know we are serious about building models and layouts, but the back stories that are made up for these empires can provide some entertaining reading.....remember Gnatshop, Captn. Mike and LongHornCaddy.


This is shaping up to be a ton of fun.....thanks guys.