The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[Bruce Oberleitner]

the AMOUNT of material available.  Sounds likes it's going to be another barn burner of a report.

[Judge]

THE SATURDAY REPORT - FEBRUARY 16, 2019
   The Saturday session of the management of the A&S Railroad started at 8:15 a.m.  A newly delivered SAL Citrus Scheme E4 B unit was examined.  It was manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Industries (BLI) and will receive an upgrade to a decoder from TCS WOW Sound before entering actual revenue service. 
   The gandy dancers and the civil engineers have been very busy this past week.  Considerable track has been laid at the Summit level (the three levels of the railroad will be referred to in this report as "the Bottoms," "the Midlands," and "Summit.")  A complete description of each will be the subject of later reports.  Additionally, seven, count 'em, seven switch machines have been installed, all but one of which functions off of the controllers.  The lone hold-out is unfortunately located over a wooden brace and cannot be activated by a Tortoise machine without serious modification of the structure.  Fortunately, it is located at the aisle edge of the railroad so it can easily be worked by the "five finger method."  By-the-way, that method is used exclusively on the midlands Tahope Branch because all of the switches are within easy reach.  A similar system is in the planning stage for the yard at Summit.
   The CEO decided that it was time to run major trains from the Bottoms to the Summit so we pulled the Pennsy's Broadway Limited out from its storage area in the Bottoms and ran it up the Ovalix to the Summit.  The trip was smooth as silk and the passenger cars negotiated the Summit wye without difficulty.  Backing into what will eventually be the passenger lead to Union Station was a breeze, as it should be, with a lead radius of over 50 inches.
   Next, we decided to make the same test with SAL's Orange Blossom Special and achieved the same results.  We backed in, pulled in and tested every possible move in the Summit area and were completely satisfied.  The trackwork is as close to perfect as 1950's engineering can devise and this area of the railroad will eventually be a spot people will really admire.
   We sent the Blossom down to the Bottoms and decided to run a steamer up the Ovalix.  ACL P5A Pacific 1559 was selected to do the job pulling a head end car and seven heavy weights.  The smooth and steady 1% grade up the Ovalix proved to be too much for the steamer so a helper was recruited to assist in the form of the A&S's newly upgraded B&O E-27 2-8-0.  This little fella provided just the right amount of power and pushed the train slowly up the Ovalix.  The trip to the Summit was interrupted by the arrival of Greg (Fireball) DeMayo.  Since 1559's rate of climb did not suit Greg, it exited the Ovalix at the Midlands and was spotted at Sanlando Station awaiting further orders.
   Gregg wanted to run a passenger train up the Ovalix and C&O's George Washington was selected.  This crack passenger varnish is powered by an A-B-A set of F3's and sported 11 cars.  Normally, A&S management limits the speed on the Ovalix to speed step 25, but Greg insisted on making a fast run and set the speed at speed step 50.  Happily, the train tracked perfectly and the passengers survived without injury.
   By the time the George Washington was returned to its spot in the Bottoms, it was nearly 11:00 a.m. and, after a little switching in the service area of Tahope, the crew headed for lunch at Smokey Bones.  We were disappointed to learn that our favorite server, who is very efficient and not without physical charm, had taken the day off.  But the food was good and the B.S. was about normal.
   After lunch, we decided to try sending a freight train from the Midlands to the Summit and selected a brace of ACL F3's in royal purple and silver for the trip.  The trip was without incident and should probably not deserve mention except to remark that the track leading off the Ovalix at the Summit is long enough to hold a long freight train, at least a train as long as is reasonable on the A&S.  A mark of the serious progress that has taken place in the past week.   

   Well, the hurricane season will soon be upon us again and this week's story involves one of those events of nature that occasionally visits Central Florida.  Most of us would rather ride out a hurricane than put up with the ice and snow our Yankee friends are experiencing this winter.  The tragedy known as The Tahope River Flood will be retold for generations to come.  Here it is in abbreviated form:

                                                                                                      THE TAHOPE RIVER FLOOD

   The A&S Superintendent of Maintenance, Will Fixer, hired Princeton Penman to keep an eye on the track gangs and report on both progress and irregularities involving work assigned to them.  Penman was better educated than most A&S employees and he excelled at preparing written reports.  These reports tended to be very detailed, and included the most insignificant information.  (Penman later went to work for Microsoft.) The Super called Penman on the carpet on several occasions to complain about the length of his reports.  The Super wanted reports that briefly stated the necessary facts without including unnecessary verbiage.
   That summer, Hurricane Annie swept through Central Florida and, with winds of over 70 miles per hour and eight inches of rain, causing the St. Johns River to rise and overflow its banks, flooding the nearby swampy areas, including some of the A&S right of way.  The Super needed a report to submit to management surveying the extent of the flooding in order to justify estimated repairs.  Naturally, the Super selected Penman to do the job. 
   Now Penman was one who took his job seriously and he was determined to accurately report the extent of the flooding caused by the hurricane with the brevity demanded by the Superintendent.  After a thorough investigation, and after gathering a significant amount of information, he finally submitted his comprehensive report.
   The Superintendent was impressed with the completeness of the report as well as its brevity.  The Board of Directors awarded Penman the A&S Outstanding Employee Pin for his report, which read in its entirety as follows:

   To:   Superintendent Will Fixer
   From:   Princeton Penman
      Sir:   Where the railroad was, the river is.

[GPdemayo]

Fireball here.....the ole' C&O named passenger train "The George Washington" used a powerful ABA combo of diesels to take the grade in grand fashion yesterday and kept the speed up to maintain the tight passenger schedule.

All aboard the crack train agreed that the ride was silky smooth and approved the timely arrival at their destination. A report of a higher than usual rate of alcohol consumption in the club car will be investigated. 

[ACL1504]

I just watched the whole adventure. No brag, just fact.

T

[PRR Modeler]

Another great adventure Judge. At least "Fireball" didn't mess anything up!

[jimmillho]

Have we created a "Fireball Express" on the Ovalix 

Jim

[BandOGuy]

As a point of historical insignificance, I had the pleasure of riding the real C&O George Washington home from college several times.
One section departed Louisville, KY where I boarded while section 2 departed from Cincinnati, OH with the trains club car.. The eastbound train was then joined at Ashland, KY.
The trips home at Christmas were particularly enjoyable as we were accompanied by large numbers of recently discharged troops from Fort Knox (Louisville) who celebrated their newly returned freedoms. The real George Washington race took place between Ashland, KY and the West Virginia border. Due to tax and archaic blue laws, the alcohol in the club car was turned off at the border. Celebrating ex-GI's had lots of cash but little time to party. Made for some interesting trips.
Back to you, judge.

[Judge]

Those of you who have actually ridden on the C&0's George Washington know it terminated in Washington, D.C. and not in a Central Florida swamp.  However, few people know that the 1970's merger of the numerous  roads, including the ACL, SAL, L&N, and C&O, was anticipated by the Atlantic & Southern.  Accordingly, it frequently happened that the George Washington would come south to A&S tracks during the busy winter season in the early 1950's, leaving northern Washington politicians stranded.  The C&O hoped that rerouting the George Washington would teach them a lesson and make them treat railroads with the same generosity as the trucking industry, but we all know how that turned out.

Good to hear from an actual GW rider.  The only thing worse that a bunch of hemmed up drunk G.I.'s is a bunch of hemmed up sober G. I.'s who wish they were drunk. 

[MAP]

Great report on the A&S Judge!  Sounds like the Ovalix is working as the engineers had designed & built it.  The flood report was spot on...Mr. Penman sure has a way with words.

[Judge]

The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report for February 23, 2019, will be delayed until February 24.  This edition has photos and your reporter is having difficulty (again) figuring out how to post them.  Seems like this could be much easier.  But I am going to master this process! 

[ACL1504]

The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report for February 23, 2019, will be delayed until February 24.  This edition has photos and your reporter is having difficulty (again) figuring out how to post them.  Seems like this could be much easier.  But I am going to master this process!

Oh no, not again!

Tom

[Judge]

The Saturday Report - February 24, 2019

The Saturday Session of the A&S Railroad started right on time at 0830 hours.  After some BS and a review of the excellent progress addding three turnout motors and signals, it was determined that the Florida Special, composed of nine heavy weights and a brace of three F2 ACL diesels, should climb the ovalix from The Bottoms to the Summit and so it began its climb at speed step 25.  As the trail approached The Summit, the "B" unit started making an unusual, loud electrical kind of noise as if the decoder was dying.  The unit was removed and replaced in position a few minutes later.  Apparently, it repaired itself. 

Another heavy weight passenger train, the Southland, joined the parade at the Sanlando Station.  it was a 10-car consist powered by ACL 1559, a Class P5A Pacific.  The weight was just too much for 1559, so the consists were switched and 1559 was coupled onto the Florida Special.  All went well after that.

"Reading Bob" Butts showed up in time for lunch so we adjourned to Smokey Bones for our noon repast. 

Grimlins attacked when we returned to railroading.  A mysterious short caused the railroad to shut down.  After much investigation, the cause was discovered.  An intermittent short was caused by some defect in the newly acquired A&LM ten wheeler.  This engine was sent to the shops at Ucita Yard  for repair. 

After the short problem was solved, the CEO made a second effort to train your reporter on how to attach photographs to these reports.  This time he was successful to some extent. 

The story this week introduces you to two of the characters that live at their fish camp located on the Tahope River in The Bottoms.  Clovis and Boone are big, strong men, who gained their muscles working lumber in Piney Woods.  They also obtain "corn squeezins" from the idle folk who live in the woods and have a still.  Anyway, these two guys are not dangerous, but they can be persuaded to get involved in questionable behavior.


                                                                                                          THE CONTEST

One day toward the end of summer, 1950, passenger service picked up on the A&S, mainly because of rerouting due to labor troubles on the FEC.  This caused considerable confusion requiring baggage to be transferred to a different baggage car in Sanlando..  Naturally, the Sanlando Baggage Master needed help to complete this task so the he hired two muscular guys, Clovis and Boone, as part-time baggage handlers.

Rumor got around that these two bozos were going to have a contest to see who could load the most baggage the fastest.  Clovis had a reputation of being able to chuck a Saratoga trunk into a baggage car with more force and greater damage than any other baggage smasher in Tahope County.  But some of the interested observers thought Boone could "fire more baggage into a car in five minutes than Clovis could in half an hour." 



Bets were placed and, sure enough, the first passenger train to arrive was Number 92, the East Coast Champion, powered by two FEC "E" units.


 
Our heroes unloaded the baggage car on the Champion and piled it in two immense piles by the baggage car scheduled to make the trip to New York.  Many types of baggage were in the piles, including canvas covered trunks, fine leather two-suiters, and "Georgia traveler" held together with twine.  There were even some wooden crates and barrels from Key West, filled with salt water trout and grouper, destined for fast delivery to New York's finest restaurants.  The crowd gathered 'round the baggage car and at exactly 3:26 p.m., the New York bound section of the Champion pulled into the station and the doors on its baggage car were thrown open.  The sound of gunfire started the contest.

Clovis pounced on a good-sized, old-fashioned valise, bound together with clothesline and, after spinning it over his head two or three times, hurled it into the car, causing it great damage, much to the delight of his admiring public.
 
Boone had not been idle.  He humped himself over a large trunk, and bending his back into the work, sent it to the rear of the car.  It was admirably done, and it would take at least an hour to collect the contents scattered in one brief moment.
This spurred Clovis to greater efforts.  He lifted a Singer Sewing Machine to his shoulder, winked confidently to his admirers, and let her go.  Pieces of cast iron went everywhere.

Then Boone snatched four ladies' valises and with no apparent effort heaved them into the car.  The dresses and fancy under garments looked right in place with the other debris.

Most of the bets were in favor of Clovis by that time but Boone was not to be denied.  Before the 30-minute shot was fired, he had turned four small wooden trunks into kindling, leaving one corner of the car completely filled with wearing apparel, broken umbrellas, and cooking utensils. He also rolled a barrel full of fresh fish with sufficient force to splinter it, scattering trout and grouper all over the floor of the car.
 
As a final demonstration of prowess and dexterity, Clovis thought he cinched the contest by handling two large trunks as though they were paper weights, scattering bonnets, panties, and feminine dry goods, all through the car.
 
When the final shot was fired, both the men gleefully grabbed up an ancient valise, owned by some rural citizen, and "let 'er go."  The dry goods, shoes, tinware, and groceries burst their bonds, to the delight of the multitude there assembled.

The contest was declared a draw and both contestants were rewarded with cold beer and the title of National Baggage Smashers before they caught an outgoing freight and headed back to their fish camp for some turtle Stew.
 
Some months later, Clovis and Boone were hired by Herndon Airport in Orlando as baggage handlers.  Some of their grandchildren work at Orlando International today, but now-a days their specialty is loading baggage on the wrong flight instead of damaging it.

[ACL1504]

Hey, Clovis and Boone aren't still hanging around in the baggage car are they?

No, they're off drinking "corn squeezins" at the fish camp.

[GPdemayo]

Sounds like the insurance and lawyer guys are going to be busy with the aftermath of this episode.....great yarn Bill. 

[jerryrbeach]

Several years ago I flew into and back out of the Orlando airport.  I often wondered why I had baggage issues there and at no other airports.  I understand why now that I know the "rest of the story".