The Atlantic & Southern Saturday Report

[PaulS]

Another wonderful 'Saturday Report' from the Judge ....   Priceless;   and what color these reports add to an already beautiful railroad.
Keep up the great work boys !!!
--Paul

[madharry]

Did the lights on the caboose help in anyway?
Mike

[PRR Modeler]

Great story Bill.

[GPdemayo]

Love it Bill.....  It's a good thing I wasn't at the throttle during that episode.....Tom would not have been amused.

[S&S RR]

Another Great report and story.  Keep them coming!

[Judge]

Good morning everyone!  And thanks for following my stories on the Saturday Report. 

And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, for the rest of the story.   The marker lights on the SAL  caboose did indeed contribute to the accident.  The ICC investigation report indicated that after 92 passed Jackson,the hind shack, the engineer saw the markers in the distance and put the brakes into emergency.  This action caused most of the injuries to the passengers, who were just getting down from their uppers and up from their lowers and heading to the rest rooms.  However, as you can see from the photos, 92 was almost at a complete stop when it collided with the caboose because the damage was minimal and when 92 backed away, the caboose righted itself on the mainline.

Stay tuned for a new adventure next week.   

[jrmueller]

Great story and the pictures were worth the effort you made. Thanks Judge Jim

[ReadingBob]

Great story and the pictures were worth the effort you made. Thanks Judge Jim

What he said!   

I'm glad the layout is set in the 50's.  If it was modern day I can just imagine the commercials we'd be hearing..."Involved in a car, motorcycle or train accident?  Call Attorney...."   

[jerryrbeach]

Judge,


The courtroom drama seems all too real, maybe drawn from personal experience?

[PRR Modeler]

Greg, if you would of been running the passenger train when you hit the caboose it would of exploded just like in the movies...oh the humanity!

[jimmillho]

Greg, if you would of been running the passenger train when you hit the caboose it would of exploded just like in the movies...oh the humanity!

Greg was not worried about any accident on the A&S as he is represented by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe, who were recently trying to find cheap office space in Tahope.

Jim

[Judge]

Miller - There is only one lawyer in Tahope and he is the in-house counsel for the A&S, whose name is Marvin Bello.  A second lawyer is not welcome because they would sue each other. 

I tried to send the comment below out earlier this morning but it disappeared.  I guess I am still a novice at using the Forum's platform.  Perhaps my earlier missive is out there somewhere, so if you run across it, delete it.

There has been some inquiry as to why a perfectly good SAL Q3 Mike would run out of steam on flat terrain while pulling #48 and cause the Champion to collide with its caboose.  The answer was found in my newly acquired book entitled "Hogger," that I purchased from AMAZON. 

When local freight #48 left the yard, the green fireman had the pop-offs popping, but by the time the train got to Eaton's curve, the pressure was dropping faster than a barometer just before a hurricane (we have those in Florida).  The Mike made it to the Piney Woods Station and just ran out of steam.  The engineer opened the fire door and was surprised to see the fire completely out.  The green fireman had forgotten to turn on the blower and had kept shoveling coal.  The wet coal covered the fire and snuffed it out.  It was quite a show of skill to get the fire hot again by the time the ICC inspectors had finished their work.  The fireman would have been given his papers except for the fact that he was the superintendent's nephew.  Whew!

It's sunny and 60 degrees here in beautiful Central Florida.  Sorry about that.

[GPdemayo]

Greg, if you would of been running the passenger train when you hit the caboose it would of exploded just like in the movies...oh the humanity!

Greg was not worried about any accident on the A&S as he is represented by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe, who were recently trying to find cheap office space in Tahope.

Jim

Hi guys.....I know nothing.....I see nothing.....I hear nothing.....I wasn't there, whenever there was. 

[Judge]

Saturday Report January 25, 2019.
The Board of Directors met promptly at 0830 hours to discuss progress on the area known as "Summit," which is located where the track on the Ovalix achieves its highest point leading to the third level of the Atlantic & Southern.  And there was much progress, including  track laying and turnout locating.  The road is now operable from "the bottoms" (the lowest level) to the Summit.  There was a celebration trip.  An SAL GP7 (with boiler) was coupled to three passenger cars and ran from Summit to the bottoms.  The trip, at speed step 25, took a few seconds over 11 minutes.  Interestingly, the WOW sound decoder apparently automatically slowed the engine as it made its decent.  We timed the reverse trip at the same speed from the bottoms to Summit and it only took 9 minutes, 45 seconds - and we added one more car.  The additional car was a solarium by Pullman that provided an excursion for the mayor and city council of the City of Tahope.  The sounds of happy politicians enjoying the freebees attendant to such a trip was a joy to hear and did not influence them in any way to be in favor of the Atlantic & Southern's future projects.

Additionally, five passenger cars of the IC persuasion were delivered from the Sanford Car Shops and are now ready for the electrician to finish the interior lighting.

Oh, yes, before we broke for lunch President Langford  made a video of ACL's 1516 (A USRA Pacific that was purchased in 1965 - so it has lasted much longer than the prototype of the same number).  1516 pulled four passenger cars up the 1 percent grade of the Ovalix without difficulty.  Unfortunately, due to a low hanging coupler, the train broke in two just before it reached Summit.

We surrendered out pie cards at Smokey Bones and feasted on the blue plate special.

After lunch we did a little switching and viewed the video.  Then we called it a day - but not before The Babe gave your writer an ice cold peanut butter pie to take back to Sanford.  No worry, it is all low-cal.

Today's story involves the telling of tall tales in the roundhouse.  Reminds me of bull sessions in college and in the army.  Here goes:

                                                                                     THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER

   The good ole boys were sitting around the round house one evening waiting for Number 835 to come in for a quick turnaround.  The question of who had traveled fastest over the rails came up.
   Ethan Douglas, one of the A&S engineers, said, "You boys want to know something about speed?  I can tell you one that will curl your hair.  One day back when I was a hogger for the A&LM, we were pulling a freight with 40 cars down a steep grade off a mountain in Arkansas.  I had checked the air before we left the yard and it was working.  As we picked up speed on the downgrade, I went to hold her back and I got nothin'.  I whistled for brakes but the skipper and the hind shack must have been sleeping because they paid me no mind and we went faster and faster.  We went so fast you might not believe it if I told you." 
   "I'd believe about anything tonight,"said a nut splitter named Anderson. 
   "We wus goin' so fast," declared Douglas, "that the train crew didn't hear the whistles because the crummy went past the noise before they could hear it."
   "Wait a minute," said the conductor, I've got some figuring to do." 
   "Don't stop him," said the hostler, "he's pert near got 'em strung out."
   "Yes," Douglas continued, "we wus in quite a fix. I called the fireman over to my side and said "Jim, his name was Jim." "Jim," we're in a hell of a pickle and we are the only ones who can get us out of it. So, do you know what we did?"
   "Didya Drop an anchor,"asked the conductor?
   "We didn't have no anchor, but I'll tell you what we did do.  Me and Jim, we both grabbed the reverse lever and, pulling with all our might, we set her in the back corner."
   "Then what happened,"said the hostler, cautiously?
   "Well, that old ten-wheeler ran backwards so fast that it caught up with the whistle noise and woke up the hind shack, who set the brakes, stopping us within ten feet of the worst wash-out in the history of the road.  Did I mention the president's daughter? 
   "You forgot that part," someone said.
   "Well the president's daughter was on board that train and she was so grateful to Jim and me she wanted to marry one of us.  But I was too old and Jim was too young so she married the brakeman."
   "Well," remarked the conductor, "that may not be the best lie I've ever heard but it is the biggest.  Whoever heard of a brakeman getting married?"
   "It's the God's truth, said Douglas. 
   

[GPdemayo]

Great one Bill.....