The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[madharry]

I agree great story Judge.

We saw her on a British mystery TV show (Midsomer Murders?), very striking.  I don't remember if she was the bad guy.  :-)


dave

Dave she was the villian. Heads up. It is always the biggest star who is the bad guy in Midsomer Murders............
Mike

[Judge]

John et al.  The book I referred to in this week's story is entitled 45 Years of True Railroad Stories by John Cockrell.  I bought it on Amazon as a Kindle edition.  Good stories by a guy who started with steam and worked up to second-generation diesels.

[GPdemayo]

Another good one Bill.....

[Judge]

Saturday Report - April 25, 2020

The Board of Directors of the Atlantic & Southern Railroad decided that the Governor of the State of Jaw-Ja and certain evangelical preachers are right and everyone else is wrong, so the Board met this morning at 8:30 a.m., always exercising social distancing and bathing our hands in (but not drinking) hand sanitizer. 

The morning was exciting.  The repainted and reworked Pennsylvania K4s and the B&O E-23 2-8-0 were debuted and they are beautiful things to watch.  Naturally, good things don't always act like they are "ready-to-run" so a couple of glitches prevent the showing of the planned videos.  Maybe next week. 

We ran the E-23 around the track at Summit and then sent it down the Ovalix to the Midlands.  The engine performs well and runs with no glitches in its get-along.  There may be a problem with the "Keep-Alive" capacitor and that will be investigated this week.  The K4s may have a defective decoder.  That issue will also be investigated this week.  In this day of computer technology, nothing runs right out of the box.

We had a pic-nick lunch in the roundhouse and then tested the recently acquired Pennsy Brunswick Green E7's on a heavy freight train.  Man, those babies do growl!

This week's story was derived from a tale told in a book named With the Slack, That will Do, and Other Railroad Stories.  The book is writtent by a former railroader on the Grand Trunk and Western who saw service on a number of roads due to mergers and transfers.

                                                                                                           Sanlando Oil Disaster

    It was a typical early predawn summer day in Central Florida, not a cloud in the skies, and by 6:00 a.m. the temperature was already approaching 80 degrees.  Ethan Douglas, an engineer recently hired on by the A&S from the B&O, fireman Wayne Shoemaker, Conductor Melvin Hatter, and head shack Bud Millstone, were called  for 5:59 a.m. to take the switcher assignment in Sanlando Yard.  This assignment usually meant making up the local freight train and servicing the Pure Oil facility and nearby industries.  It was an easy way to make a full day because there was a tree-hour interval between the morning activities and the arrival of the afternoon freights from Tampa and Jacksonville.
    The Pure Oil facility had two full tank cars spotted next to the fuel rack that needed to be moved and replaced with two empties.  Engineer Douglas eased switcher 1150 into the two full tankers and Millstone climbed down to connect the air hoses. 
    None of the crew noticed a fuel truck, driven by Lou Paul "Wormy" Thrasher, parked next to the first loaded tank car.  Wormy, who had just gotten the job as a driver for Tahope Oil and Gas Company, had been told by his boss to park his truck next to the fuel rack and fill up his truck with fuel oil.  Wormy's boss assumed he had the good sense to wait until the tank cars were moved before attempting to transfer the fuel.  Wormy, who has a few cubes short of a full tray, ran the hose from the fuel spigot under the lead tank car instead of from the fuel rack and began filling the tank on his truck.
    About that time, Engineer Douglas backed 1150 up to clear that spur for empty tank cars.  As the tank cars moved back, the force pulled Wormy's hose from the intake valve on his truck and flammable fuel spewed out all over Wormy and Millstone.  Conductor Hatter saw the emergency and skedaddled to the yard office to call for medical assistance. 
    An ambulance arrived on the scene within minutes and loaded the oil-soaked men onto gurneys for transport to the hospital.  On the way, Wormy said to Hatter, "Do yuh think we's gonna die?"  "I dun think so, but we might," said Millstone.  "Waal," said Wormy, why don't we get the driver to stop by the Trackside Tavern so we can have a last cool one and watch Maggie Hussy wiggle and jiggle?  Then we can die happy."  "Maybe after we've been cleaned up," said Millstone. 
  Our heroes arrived and the hospital without further incident, and underwent a thorough cleaning, followed by an examination by Dr. Minnie Staysic, who pronounced them fit for duty. 
    MIllstone retuned to Sanlando Yard to finish his daily assignment.  Wormy returned to the Tahope Oil and Gas Company and was asked for an explanation of the morning events.  The boss decided the problem should be chalked up to inexperience and let Wormy off with a strong warning.  Wormy, who was still shook up over the whole thing, took the rest of the day off and, before returning to The Bottoms, stopped by the Trackside Tavern for a cool one.

                                                                         
                                                                           


                                                                           



                                                                           

[PRR Modeler]

Great story Bill.

[GPdemayo]

Those Bottom's boys strike again.....fun story Bill. 

[Judge]

Curt and Greg - Thank you for your kind comments.  My fan club consists of less than ten patient souls who follow my missives enough to comment.  We could all meet and have dinner without violating the virus guideline.  Of course, we could always travel to Jaw-ja and exercise our right to get infected. . . . .

[GPdemayo]

Hey Bill.....how about Savannah? Pegi and I really like the town.....great restaurants, fun nightlife and Gulfstream Aerospace....what's not to like. 

[Judge]

Mike (Mad Harry):  Being British and all, you might not get the irony of having an industry known as "Valley Supply" located next to Sanlando Yard. (See photograph above.) The industry is named after Florida's famous St. Johns River Valley, which is located in Central Florida at the point where Seminole, Volusia, and Brevard Counties connect.  Of course, being Florida, the St. Johns River flows north and the sides of the St Johns River Valley are at sea level.  Some people from outside the state, mostly Yankees, mistake the valley for a swamp.

Just thought you'd like to know.

[ReadingBob]

Another great story Bill!  Keep 'em coming.  Glad to see that the A&S is pushing through this pestilence and the Bored of Directors haven't lost their sense of humor.   

[ACL1504]

Great story but then I had a little preview knowledge of w\hat was coming.

The issue with the PRR K4s was the fact the WOW decoder has a intermittent sound. It may be one that got past quality control.  I'll call TCS Monday and talk to Dan about it. I'm hoping they will answer.

Tom 

[postalkarl]

Hey Judge:

Looks just great.

Karl

[Judge]

Thank you, Karl. 

[Judge]

Bob - Thank you for noticing we haven't lost our sense of "humor."  I have always tried to keep it light.

[GPdemayo]

Atta Boy Bill.....