The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[ACL1504]

We did in fact have a lot of fun today. I'll let The Judge tell the rest of the story next week or add to this one is he wants. It does however, speak to our never ending quest to "Muck it all up"! He was going to report it in this weeks info but I declined to approve it.

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

Another great story Bill. Hope to see you guys next week.

[BandOGuy]

Thanks to the entire crew for posting a great wrap up for the week.

[GPdemayo]

Enjoyed it Bill.....

[ReadingBob]

Good story Bill! 

I'm going to have to get my A&S news through the Saturday Reports for awhile I'm afraid.  Starting tomorrow the kids are back in school and my wife works at a K thru 6 school (aka petri dish).  I can't risk exposing the SBG to this <insert explicative here> bug.      

[S&S RR]

Judge


I always look forward to your updates and stories. I'm glad you guys are having fun.

[Judge]

Curt, John, Greg et al.  -Thanks for your interest in my stories.  You keep reading and I'll keep writing. 

[Judge]

Saturday Report - August 23, 2020.

The weekly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic & Southern Railroad was held on Friday instead of Saturday due to the Babe's hair appointment in the great city of Mount Dora.

The main contribution to the venture was to speed match two Proto 2000 Southern RR E7s. They were within less than a mile per hour of each other without adjustment.  We had fun with the speedometer anyway.   BTW, if any faithful readers of this report decide to purchase an Accutrak II speedometer after watching the video by the DCC guy, you should know that the factory default on the device is set to cut off within minutes after being turned on - apparently to save battery life.  However, the device can be kept on for longer periods of time by simply following these instructions:  1.  cut the device "off."  2.  with a paper clip, push the little "set up" button on the front of the panel and it will allow you to increase the time before the automatic cut-off.

We had a successful day of operations with only an uncoupling or two to interrupt the smooth flow of traffic on the midlands and up to Summit.  We even got to make a couple of videos, one of which is on Tom's thread and the other is below this week's story.

                                       This week's story has its origin from "The Sunny Side of the Track" section of the January 1938 Railroad Magazine ($.15).

                                                                                                     The Brakeman and the Farmer

    Now, in the summer in Central Florida, a lot of crops are ready to be hauled to market by railroad.  There are celery, tomatoes, peas, corn, and carrots, among other vegetables.  Watermelons fill a string of ventilated box cars daily during the months of July and August.  Not many folks know it but north of Tahope County, around Hastings, they grow darn near as many potatoes as they grow in the whole state of Idaho.
     It was the summer of 1948 when a boomer brakeman blew into Sanlando and walked to the A&S roundhouse looking for a job.  "Is the A&S looking for a brakeman," said the boomer to Tater Cartwright, the Assistant Roundhouse Foreman?  "It's produce season," said Tater, "if'n you can walk without crutches and sign your name for your rule book, you can come aboard."
    The boomer brakie drew the hind shack job on the Kissimmee to Jacksonville produce mixed train that afternoon.  Braking on a through mixed train meant the brakeman would spend the trip seated comfortably in the passenger car for the whole trip.
    On this particular day, the brakie sat beside Farmer Perkins of Tahope County, who had just marketed a couple of boxcars full of watermelons and twenty head of cattle.  The brakie introduced himself and the two of them started talking about the cattle business.  Every time the train whizzed by a cow pasture the brakeie would write down a different number on a pad.
    After an hour or so, Farmer Perkins' curiosity got the best of him and he asked, "What the heck are those numbers for?"{  The brakie replied, "Every time we pass a pasture, I put down the number of cows on it.  I'm good with numbers and I just do it to pass the time."
    Farmer Perkins smiled skeptically, "The next farm we come to is mine.  all the cows will be out in the pasture.  If you're so good with numbers, you'll be able to give me an exact count."
     As the train flashed by Famer Perkins' farm, the brakie wrote down 217, which was correct.  Farmer Perkins was astounded and asked how he did it.
    "The thing is really very simple," explained the brakie, "I just count the number of legs and then divide by four."

                                                                                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcX96_770V4

[PRR Modeler]

Great story about brake man with superb vision and math skills.

[ACL1504]

Great story! Had lots of fun Friday as well.

Tom

[ReadingBob]

Keep the stories coming Bill!

What a great tribute to our friend Jim.  Gone but not forgotten.   

[Judge]

Saturday Report - August 29, 2020

The Board of Directors met promptly at 0830 hours.  Construction of the Tahope River fishing dock is coming along nicely. Hopefully, it will be in place this week or next.  The "River Liver's," like Luke, Newt, and Shortstack, need a place to fuel up and buy beer.

One of our leased Southern RR F3A units is in the shop.  Will Fixer says the frame has expanded, which causes difficulty removing the body to work on the engine.  This problem has been temporarily solved and the entire saga may appear in video format sometime this week.  But no promises.

We speed matched two SAL F3A units.  These are Athearn Genesis engines of venerable age.  Surprisingly, afer we set the CV's to our default settings, the units performed amazingly well with the slowest speed at .4 mph.  Who would have thought we could get that kind of performance from an HO scale locomotive 20 years ago?

We removed the Southern E7 A-B set with the fancy paint scheme from the drawer and coupled it to the Cresent LImited for a run around Summit.  This is a fantastic train and it may be featured on video next Saturday.

We broke for lunch at Del Dio's at 1100 hours and ordered Caesar Salad. 

After lunch, we fired up the Pennsy K4s and put the Jacksonian through its paces.  Speaking of the Jacksonian, this week's story takes place on that streak of varnish.  I am indebted to the February, 1938, Railroad Magizine for the idea.  I guess this was a real knee-slapper in 1938. 

                                                                                                                  PASSENGERS

One summer morning a well-dressed middle aged woman boarded the Jacksonian at Sanlando en route to Jacksonville for a little shopping.  She had her litttle dog with her, tucked under her arm.  She asked the conductor, "If I pay my little Fluffy's fare, will he be treated the same just like other passengers and will he be allowed to occupy a sear?"

"Of course," said the conducctor, "He will be treatedt the same as the other passengers and can occupy a seat, provided he don't put his feet on it."

Later that same day, at Union Station in Jacksonville, the same lady come aboard and she was severely intoxicated.  The conductor guided her to a seat adn asked where she was headed.  She replied, "I'm going home to Tahope."  "How are you going to get there from the Sanlando Station," the conductor asked.  "Well, I'm going to drive," said the lady.  "Well, I don't doubt it," said the conductor.  "You are in no condition to walk."

The conductor went on to the next car to take up tickets.  He noticed the lady was following him and annoying other passengers as she made her way through the car. 

"What's going on here," said the conductor?  "Why are you annoying these passengers?"  "Oh," she said, "I'm asking for advice on what I should tell my husband when I get home."  "Waal," he said, "there's only one thing to do."  "What's that," she said?  "When you get off at Sanlando, check into the hotel across the street from the depot and spend the night.  Then you'll really have something to tell your husband tomorrow morning."

Finally, a passenger volunteered to help.  "I'll drive her home," he said.  The conductor grabbed him by the arm and warned, "When you get her to the front door, ring the bell and scram.  You don't want her husband, Officer Poovey, to arrest you for getting her drunk."

[deemery]

That's a good one!  The ending surprised me, I wasn't expecting that!


dave

[PRR Modeler]

Another great story Bill.

[GPdemayo]

Good one Bill.....thanks.