The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[ReadingBob]

Keep 'em coming Bill!  Run a train for me next week.   

[S&S RR]

Another great story and report Bill. Keep them coming.

[Judge]

Bob, Curt, Dave, Greg, and John: 

Thank you for your kind comments and story review.  I really enjoy posting these Reports and plan on continuing to do so for at least the rest of this year.  I have years and years of 1930's - 1940's Railroad Magazines that belonged to my father and there are a lot of good ideas in them. 

Some of the advertising is priceless.  What to do about hair loss (guaranteed) and an ad touting "how to make a living" with a correspondence course on becoming an expert on diesel engines caught my eye in a 1938 edition. And the ad warning "Beware Kidney Germs if Tired, Nervous, Aching" hawked a product called Cystex, which starts fighting kidney germs within 3 hours.  It must have been effective since that ailment is no longer known today.  Then there is a complete kit for you to start your own potato chip business and another correspondence course on "Training You at Home (in your spare time) for a Good Radio Job." 

Ah, those were the good old days.

[Jim Donovan]

Don't forget the crystal radio kits you bought from Boy's Life magazine. I built mine in the far future 1960's. Love the stories. Actually look forward to the weekly update.

Jim D

[deemery]

And don't forget Carter's Little Liver Pills...


dave

[Judge]

Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report - September 5, 2020.  Cloudless sky, temperature a little cooler than last week.  Maybe a hint of fall.

    The Board of Directors met on time at 0830 hours and your reporter marveled at the completed bait and tackle/ gas station that will soon be in place in the Tahope River. 
    There has been a major development involving BLI diesel locomotives.  The A&S has some 25 of these engines and, while none of them have given us any real trouble up until now, we cannot say that anymore.  The A&S has an A-B set of F3's painted in the green/white/gold Southern RR scheme.  The A unit needed o be worked on and Will Fixer, of the A&S maintenance department had trouble removing the outer shell to get to the innards of the beast.  It turns out that, so far as we know, all diesel frames are made of a material called Zamac, which we used to refer to as "pot metal."  Zamac quality varies with the manufacturer and over the years it had "bowed out" so it was difficult to remove the shell.  It also "bowed up" and interferred with the flywheel.  Tom has posted a video on his thread explaining the situation.  We were disappointed in the response from BLI about their faulty product and Tom says we are through with BLI.  I might add, we have had no similar problems with our other BLI diesels - at least not yet.
    We made a video of the Crescent Limited leaving the Station to go with this week's story and left for lunch at Del Dio's. 
    Greg Demayo and his wife joined us for lunch and followed us back to the railroad for a BS session. 
    No major problems today, although we have a pasenger car that misteriously uncouples for no discernable reason and that will be resolved next Saturday.
    A good time was had today.

    This week's story picks up the adventures of Peaches Weaver and her quest to find a suitable institution of higher education.  You remember Peaches?  See pages 10 and 11 of these reports.

                                                                                   THE TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS ON THE CRESCENT LIMITED
                                                                                   
    Regular readers of this report will recall that Peaches Weaver, daughter of Rose Weaver and step daughter of J. Pierpont Forrest, who is president of the Tahope State Bank, recently graduated from Tahope High School, where she was a cheerleader.  She met her boyfriend, Terrell ('Tater) Cartwright shortly before she graduated and celebrated the event with Tater in the back seat of Tater's father's 1950 Buick Roadmaster while parked in Piney Woods.
    Well, since that time, Peaches has taken a job as the owner's secretary at Sokol's Furniture Company and Tater has become the Assistant Forman at the Tahope Roundhouse and Steam Service Facility. 
    Recently, Rose Weaver has been encouraging Peaches do seek admission to an institution of higher learning.  Peaches is not keen on the idea of leaving Tater and going to college but she is an obedient child and, at age 19, "figgers she might give college a try."  Peaches' daddy has already taken her to Gainesville for a tour of the University of Florida (praise be its name) and her mother, being originally from Lousiana, suggested a look at Tulane would be nice.  "Besides," thought Rose, "it is further away from Tater Cartwright's place than Gainesville."
     Rose made a reservation for Peaches to take the Champion to Jacksonville and change to the Crescent Limited for the overnight trip to New Orleans.  Peaches had a single compartment on the Crescent instead of a lower berth in a Pullman section.
    Now Peaches, although a respectable sort of girl, could not pass up the opportunity to invite Tater to come along for their first overnight stay together.  She boarded the Champ at Sanlando Station and Tater caught the train at the first stop north so he would not be spotted by Rose or her father. 
    The attractive young couple decided to have a late lunch when they passed over the St. Johns River and were seated in a brand new dining car named "Moultrie," after the South Jaw-ja town of the same name. 
    Dining in the Moultrie was a unique experience.  The meal was enhanced by the matched china, crystal, silverware, and table linen supplied with the meal.  The Moultrie's full-size kitchen featured an all-electric ten-burner (Vulcan) range with 2 large ovens along with a griddle, a 60-inch steam table, 7 refrigeration units and 3 freezers, 3 large sinks, and a Hobart dishwasher.  Almost any menu could be prepared in this 1950 example of Budd's finest art.
    Tater ordered the 8 oz sirloin steak with baked potato and chef's salad ($3.50) and Peaches ordered roast lamb with rice, gravy, and okra and tomatoes.  ($3.00). 
    They changed trains in jacksonville and boarded the Crescent Limited, powered by an A-B lash-up of new E6 diesel locomotives.  AFter a light supper, they relaxed in the club car for an hour or so, while Tater drank a glass of Schlitz beer and Peaches drank a Coke. 
    Soon, the happy couple adjourned do Peaches' compartment, where they somehow managed to sleep soundly until morning.
    They stayed overnight the next night in a hotel in the French Quarter and enjoyed the sights and smells of New Orleans.  The tour of Tulane was okay too.
    Peaches was met by her mother at Sanlando on her way home.  She told her mother how much she loved New Orleans and that she had made her decision about where she wanted to go to school.  She announced, "My mind is made up!  I'm going to be a Gator!"  The question wasn't even close.

                                                                                           https://youtu.be/UFNePqLmB3I

                                                                               Here is a video of the Crescent pulling out of a station. 

[ACL1504]

Here is the video The Judge was referring to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOn04e-b9o

[PRR Modeler]

Lousy customer service. I've always heard that BLI had great customer service.

[ACL1504]

Lousy customer service. I've always heard that BLI had great customer service.

Curt,

They were very polite and willing to help. I just didn't feel like I should have to pay for the replacement part. Since they knew it was a problem. I'm working on getting it free + shipping.

Interestingly, they never sent out info that this was or could potentially be a problem.

I'll keep you posted.

Tom

[Zephyrus52246]

Wow, I thought Zamac wasn't used any more because it broke down like this.  I had some old Varney stuff where the stuff just crumbles after many years.  Thanks for the info.  And another great story, Bill.


Jeff

[GPdemayo]

Enjoyed the story.....thanks Bill. 

[RWL]

Bill,


Another great story of your conjured characters, with the supply of material you base the stories on you could go well into the next century. As everyone has noted, keep them coming.


Stay safe
Bob

[jbvb]

Every 'die cast' locomotive or car frame I've ever put a file to turns out to be a zinc alloy.  But none of my old Hobbytown, Athearn etc. equipment has deteriorated.  So I looked it up, turns out lead impurities cause 'zinc pest' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_pest ) and Zamak ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamak ), if the genuine New Jersey Zinc article, shouldn't suffer from it.

[deemery]

Unfortunately, the old Central Valley line of trucks was very much susceptible to this.  About 1/2 of mine have failed.


dave

[ACL1504]

UPDATE:

I've removed the video and made it private. I'll call Melanie @ BLI  Parts and Service on Tuesday and see what we can work out.

Tom