The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[S&S RR]

Another fine report. I'm enjoying your stories Judge.

[PRR Modeler]

Sounds like a grand time and "Speedball" must have been ecstatic 

[jerryrbeach]

I gotta believe that was the longest 12 minutes of that young man's life.

[Judge]

                                                                                                      THE REST OF THE STORY

The young man's name is Terrell (Tater) Cartwright and the girl's name is Peaches.  Peaches is a niece of Luke and Daisey Turner, who live on Eaton's Curve..  (All the "wimmin" young'uns in that family are named after flowers or plants.)  Tater is a promising young man who is employed by the A&S Railroad as a roundhouse mechanic's helper. Peaches, who is slightly cross-eyed, is a cheerleader at Tahope County High School.

Here is a picture of "Tater" working in the A&S Roundhouse.  "Tater" is on his haunches by the low pressure cylinder on the 2-6-6-2, which is A&S Number 7.
 

This, of course, is Peaches.

[jrmueller]

Judge you continue to provide great stories. Jim

[ReadingBob]

I love the latest tale from the A&S!  Keep 'em coming!

[Judge]

  The Atlantic & Southern's CEO and the Babe are off property today visiting Tom's older sister in South Carolina.  It's a trip that allows you to enjoy both I-4 and I-95.
There will be a regular session of the A&S management and crew next Saturday.  A&S's 2-6-6-2 will be out of the shop by then and will probably make a revenue run with pulpwood (There's a lot of pulp wood in Florida - its where paper comes from.)
  However, in spite of Tom's absence from the railroad, your reporter has not been idle.

FYI, the A&S is proud to have TCS WOW sound in all steam and diesel locomotives that are in regular service - and that is a bunch of them.  We have been in contact with TCS for the past couple of years, whining about the fact that sound for Baldwin diesels is not available on their products.  NO MORE!  Soon our Sharks and Centipedes will be powered with real Baldwin sound!                                                                                                       

                                                                                                              Happy Days! 
                                                                             TCS WOW Sound now has Baldwin sound on their decoders.

I just learned that Train Control Systems now has decoders that have four different Baldwin prime movers and some Baldwin horns.  I heard the sounds briefly yesterday and I was impressed.  Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the nomenclature of Baldwin prime movers so I don't know which of them are available for, say Sharks, Centipedes, S-12's or V-1000's.  However, I have ordered two decoders (along with two of TCS's new super speakers) for intstallation in my BF-16 Sharks.Below is a web site that has a chart showing the various Baldwin diesels and the types of prime movers they used.  I understand that all of them were maintenance nightmares.  The Sharks, particularly, leaked oil.  Leak or not, they could lug coal hoppers better than the steamers they replaced.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baldwin_diesel_locomotives

I also found some web sites that have Baldwin diesels, complete with sound. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdSSx6tNtpc (I think this one may have computer enhancement)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpuEPoEIB9I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNhcjDGg2zo

This week's story is one of the triumph of the weak over the strong - Little A&S takes on the big Jacksonville Steamship Company.

                                                                                             THE BRIDGE OVER THE TAHOPE RIVER

   The Tahope River is fed from the mighty St. Johns, which flows north from Florida's Gold Coast to Jacksonville.  The Tahope River branches off of the St. Johns and meanders west into Sanlando.  The earliest railroad bridge across the Tahope River was constructed in 1903.  It was a wooden structure containing many thousands of feet of creosote treated timber and many tons of iron.  Over the years, it became rickety and would not hold the weight of A&S locomotive traffic. Finally, in 1948, the old bridge was replaced with another wooden bridge.
   The citizens of Tahope were happy with their new bridge, but the happiness was not universal.  The bridge passed over the Tahope River at such a height as to preclude the passage of most river traffic in route to Sanlando.  And there was considerable traffic diverted from the St. Johns to the Tahope River in those days.  The traffic included not only steam boats carrying passengers up and down the river from Jacksonville, but also included freighters transporting agricultural products "up Nawth."  Thus, shippers were precluded from using the Tahope River to transfer their products to Jacksonville, and were forced to ship them by rail, using the Atlantic & Southern Railroad.
   Enter the Jacksonville Steamship Company, whose board of directors insisted the Trustees of the Florida Intrastate River Commission abate the bridge as an obstruction to navigation.  The A&S immediately filed a lawsuit in Circuit Court through its attorney, Marvin Bello, seeking to enjoin further interference. 
   While the suit was pending, one of the Steamship Company's ships attempted to pass under the bridge and, not surprisingly, collided with it.  By accident, the ship caught fire and the flames ignited the underside of the wooden bridge.  The bridge was destroyed before the City of Tahope's 1923 firetruck could arrive on the scene and extinguish the blaze.
   The railroad and the steamship company reached a settlement whereby the steamship company would pay for a new steel bridge that would not be a fire hazard, and the A&S agreed to dredge six feet from the river bottom under the bridge, to allow clearance for the company's vessels.  The settlement resulted in the completion of the present bridge in 1950.  The outcome of the case was publicized far and wide, and has been used to this day as a model for Congress to successfully compromise partisan differences. 
    And Marvin Bello became the first citizen in Tahope County to own a Cadillac automobile.

                                         

[PRR Modeler]

Another great story Bill.

[tct855]

Your Honor,
               With an imagination like yours, who needs to hear the facts! (grin)  When it comes to hearing fake news or fake stories, I like your stories because the facts sound so believable and the tone and demeanor are very fiduciary.

That's it, I'm giving up reading my novels and sticking to this thread here on out!  keep your hand on the whistle and pull hard on the throttle Judge.  Thanx Thom...

[GPdemayo]

Ole Marvin is quite the scamp.....

[Jim Donovan]

Once again a great story that highlights the progressive and flexible nature of Florida jurisprudence. I wonder if by chance the ship involved was, shall we say, 'dated' but fully insured for this type of untimely end? I suspect that might have been the case though my own dealings with insurance companies is they are even better at getting out of paying then they are at selling the policy to begin with.

Jim D

[Judge]

                                                                                                 The Rest of the Story

While I seldom include a personal note on any of my Saturday missives, I need to celebrate this particular April Fool's Day.  For it was on April Fool's Day, 1969, (fifty years ago) while I was assigned as a staff officer in the Special Forces Headquarters at Ft. Bragg, N.C., that I received a telephone call from the Pentagon in Washington, D. C. , notifying me that I had come down on officer's levy for MACV (Military Advisory Command, Vietnam) and would be proceeding there in October.  Fortunately, my boss, who was the staff Adjutant General, knew the MACV Adjutant General and he arranged for me to be assigned to the General Staff in Saigon.  My year in Vietnam was more interesting than dangerous and, happily, I never had to fire a shot.  Funny, it seems like only yesterday.  But April Fool's Day every year means something special to me and that is why I am telling you.  It is also why, on my current Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report, a lawyer named Marvin Bello managed to get a Steamship Company to settle a dispute by having the City of Tahope dredge six feet of river bottom under a new bridge so the steamships would gain clearance.  Happy April Fool's Day!

And thank all of you who have taken the time to reply to my Saturday Report entries.  I appreciate your comments.

[deemery]

I'm just waiting for the story that starts, "This is no s**t!"  :-)


dave

[PRR Modeler]

Dave you must of been a sailor at some point.

[deemery]

Dave you must of been a sailor at some point.

Nope, Army.  But the difference between a fairy tail and a war/sea story is a joint concept - it applies to all Branches of the Service.

dave