The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[Judge]

Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report May 2, 2020.

The Board of Directors, every one of them fearless and unafraid of the pestilence in Tahope County, met promptly at 0830 hours.  Your reporter took note of the progress of the out shopping of the new 2-6-6-2 and both directors discussed the aches and pains of climbing over the 70-year mark.  Your reporter will turn 77 this week and the CEO (Tom) is much younger. 

Speaking of the C&O H-5, we had to do a little searching for decals for the engine.  Microscale has C&O decals so buying a set from them was an option.  However, it turns out that Tom had a set hidden away in one of his drawers and, although they appear to be more than 30 years old, they seem to be in good shape. 

We decided to give the K4s another run to see if we could adjust our way out of what we thought was a faulty decoder.  To our amazement, the Pennsy pacific improved over time and, once the chuff rate was adjusted, it performed fairly well.   The TCS capacitor that is called "keep-Alive" may be faulty.  Tom is going to replace it this week if he has a chance to get to it and we will retest the K4s next Saturday. 

Meanwhile, the K4s was coupled onto a reefer, a baggage/RPO, and four coaches for a test run.  It climbed up the constant one-degree grade of the Ovalix from the Midlands to Summit without difficulty.  Beautiful train.  We need to figure out a name for it. The train is scheduled to make a daily run from St. Petersburg to Jacksonville and back - sort of a daylight express.  The entire train was leased from the Pennsy due to increased traffic on the A&S.  As regular readers know, the A&S has a "special relationship" with the Pennsy and that road has leased or made gratuitous transfers of several still serviceable steam locomotives and a number of E and F units.  The A&S has granted trackage rights for a winter section of the Broadway Limited and that train makes regular trips down South to Central Florida.  All readers are invited to submit a suggested name of names for the train.  First prize will be a complimentary ticket to ride on the inaugural run, which is set for a week from today.

Lunch was take-out from our new Italian restaurant.  Pizza for your reporter and salad for Tom. 

Afer lunch, we reset the CV's on all four of the recently acquired Pennsy E-7 diesels and lashed them up with a fifteen-car freight.  That may have been a little overkill since all four units are powered, but they sounded great and looked even better.  There will be photos of all this next week unless the Tahope River rises.  And that is unlikely this time of year.  It doesn't start raining every afternoon here until late May, in time for the tourists to visit "Diddy Wurld." (Or not, this year.)

This week's story has military implications.  Ever wonder what happened to army supply sergeants when they retired?

                                                                                                     Property Management on the A&S

Billy O'Donnell was an army supply sergeant during the war and knew a thing or two about keeping track of equipment.  He is the A&S property manager.  He has a large wooden storage shack full of property located near the water tower at Sanlando Yard, and he carefully guards the contents.  Each section foreman is supposed to have two acetylene torches.  O'Donnell had an inventory of three. 

Benny O'Toole is the section foreman for the Sanlando Division and he was short a torch.  So, he asked O'Donnell for one of his.  O'Donnell said, "Billy, me darlin', it's a torch ya need?  Do ya only need th' one?"  "Yes, Benny me boy, the one is all I needs."  O'Donnell replied, "Ya can't have one."  "Why not, said O'Toole, yu've got three."  "Because then I'd only have two."  "But ya don need three," said O'Toole.  "And what if one of them wore out or got stole," said O'Donnell, " then I'd only have two and I'm not about to be taking that kind of a chance with railroad equipment." 

Only retired army supply sergeants (and it doesn't matter which army) could appreciate that logic.

[PRR Modeler]

Sounds like military supply to me.

[cuse]

Nice one Judge. Sgt. O'Donnell sounds a bit like my father's WWII experience. He came home as a Master Sgt. but spent a good part of his time running the show as a Supply Boss. Now that I think about it, they probably had to promote him out of there to restore equilibrium...I have no doubts his inventories were suspect and the back door was probably open to his buddies. Entrepreneurial. 


I'll get down there one of these days when they blow the all clear...the real one!


John

[BandOGuy]

Only I would notice this (at 78, I can legally be a DOM), but about those C&O decals? I hope they weren't really stored for all this time in Tom's drawers. That could have been awkward in a lot of situations. 

[GPdemayo]

Sounds like a good time was had by all.....good tale Bill. 

[Judge]

The story about the supply sergeant has been told in a number of books and other media.  I first heard it on a segment of MASH when a quartermaster major refused to give Hawkeye an incubator because then he would only have two.  This guy was sending home an army jeep a piece at a time. 

I spent a miserable six weeks at ROTC summer camp at Ft. Bragg, NC in 1964 and I remember the inspection of the company areas.  The supply sergeants were transferring food trays and other items from one company storeroom to another, just ahead of the inspectors. 

Just my luck, my first duty station was back at Ft. Bragg.  I was assigned to be officer of the day one weekend for the Eighteenth Airborne Corps and Fr. Bragg.  Elements of the 82nd Airborne Division made a jump that morning and went to downtown Fayetteville that evening to let off steam.  They invaded a bar, tore up all of the tables and chairs, and set the place on fire.  I made the report, the army paid for all of the damage, and no disciplinary action was taken.  Boys will be boys.

While I was in Vietnam, the only beer available for several months was Carlings Black Label.  It seems that a group of sergeants had figured out how to make a bunch of money by giving Carlings a monopoly.   

[ReadingBob]

Thanks for another pleasurable read.    

Someday we'll be able to resume more normal activities on the A&S.  I'd like to try out the new Italian joint you two have found.  Meanwhile I'll have to contribute remotely.   

[deemery]

Ah, Fayette-nam, I heard lots of stories about that place in the late '60s/early '70s.  By the time I got to ROTC Summer Camp in summer of '77 it had calmed down a bit.

I'm generally not a fan of domestic lager, but Carling has a spot in my heart.  I was on the Bicentennial reenactment of the Arnold invasion of Canada (fall of '75).  One of the sponsors was Carling/Labatte.  For a week, our routine was:  break camp, throw our stuff in the back of Maine National Guard 2 1/2 t trucks, they'd throw in a couple of cases of Carling to help us on the trip.  (You didn't want to get too close to the back of the truck, that was recycled beer that was getting dumped out the back of the truck...)  We'd arrive at the next town, set up camp, change into our colonial clothes, march and fire off some blank rounds from those of us who had muskets (mine was an 1816 Springfield).  Then it was free food at the Elks Lodge and open bar at the VFW.  When we got to Quebec City, there were double-decker busses to take people to the Labatte brewery, where this one woman would demonstrate how she poured 3 beers with one hand.  We all gave her plenty of chances to practice....

dave

[Judge]

Ah, the pleasures of youth! 

[ACL1504]

I need to share this fact about the Judge and his story.

We have three NWSL brass USRA 0-6-0 locos. Two are sounded and painted. I suggested we sell the unpainted one.

Yepper, he said, "But then we will only have two".

True story and facts.

Tom

[GPdemayo]

And I thought I was bad when it came to steam engines.....

[Judge]

Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report - May 9, 2020

The business meeting of the Board of Directors started on time at 0830 hours.  Weather - beautiful.  Too bad our visitors aren't here to enjoy it.  But the traffic is much better because of it.  Y'all come, ya heah!  We need the revenue.

The meeting started with gawking at the disassembled C&O H-5, which should be operational next Saturday.  Happy Days!  It needs to go into revenue service as soon as possible.

There were odds and ends to talk about.  The CEO has decided to refurbish our newly acquired 4-6-0 after the H-5 is finished.  That little engine will be a good match to the B&O Consolidation already in service.  Today we put the 2-8-0 through the Ovalix test and she pulled 12 cars and a caboose up the steady one percent grade with no difficulty.  At speed step 35, she takes 2 minutes and 2 seconds to make a revolution on the ovalix.  About 13 minutes from the Midlands to Summit.

A curved turn-out at the south end of the railroad near the diesel service facility is faulty.  It will be replaced within the next few weeks.  That is quite a project, but the results will be worth it.

We ran a freight behind the four Pennsay E-7's.  Those four units could probably pull well over 100 cars without difficulty.  Later we reduced the consist to an A-B-A lash-up.  Still overkill, but it looks better.

Bob Butts and Greg DeMayo showed up for fun and lunch.  Always good to see those guys.

Last week your reporter challenged all who follow this report to name the train to be powered by a Pennsy K4s with five passenger cars and an express reefer on its daily run from St.Petersburg to Jacksonville and back.  Many suggestions were expected and exactly zero were received.  i guess the virus is getting to imaginations.  We settled on calling it The Jacksonian, after President Andrew Jackson, who was, after all, the first territorial governor of Florida and the dude for whom Jacksonville is named.  Poor Andy, they are talking about taking his likeness off of the $20.00 bill.  But he will be remembered on the A&S!  Shouldn't only former presidents have their likeness on U.S. currency? 

There will be no story this week or next.  Your reporter is taking some time off.  There is a photo!  Below is the H-5 in its disassembled condition.


                                                                             i

[PRR Modeler]

Wish I could of been there today. Hopefully next week.

[postalkarl]

Hey Judge:

Always looking forward to your reports.

Karl

[Raymo]

Glad you boys could at least get together for a little face to face time.