The Atlantic and Southern Build, Part 1

[ACL1504]

I've been accused of being light-headed many times, but I don't thnk I've seen a light-handed poster
on here before!!..
Leave it to Li'l Tommy for being the FIRST!!!
I can just hear him - "Babe, can you give me a hand with this piece of track? -The doctor told me not
to try to be 'BIG JOHN"!!!

Gman,

The cast is off and the Babe has already said you can get it yourself now.    All kidding aside she was great as always. I wanted the cast off but the attention I was getting from her was wroth the wait.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I've been accused of being light-headed many times, but I don't thnk I've seen a light-handed poster
on here before!!..
Leave it to Li'l Tommy for being the FIRST!!!
I can just hear him - "Babe, can you give me a hand with this piece of track? -The doctor told me not
to try to be 'BIG JOHN"!!!

That's Big BAD John, Arky! Or, to you, MR. Big Bad John, SIR!
I'm sure the rest of those assembled here welcome back, with open arms, two of our favorite, recently missing poster boys.
Now, let's go build something!!

Chip,

I'm back and will be updating this thread this afternoon. Thanks for the kind words and for checking in.

Tom

[ACL1504]

OK.  It's Thursday and the cast is off.  Is the railroad finished yet?   


Jeff

Dr. Jeff,

You were correct in my taking it easy once the cast came off. I had big ideas but now,  "Je suis contente" to be taking my time. The railroad isn't finished but I do have lots of updates for this thread and the A&S build thread. Thanks for the support.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I should have a few updates within the next week. I'm taking my time per Dr. Jeff to not try and overdue it right out of the gate.

Tom

[bruce.oberleitner]

Glad to hear that your doing well Tom.  I just got back from the NMRA National meet in Portland Oregon last Sunday and man was that cool.  Lot's of stuff to do and see in that town.  Believe it or not but I even went to a guys house where he was using an old Turkey barn for a layout room!  And if you ever think that there's not enough space for a railroad, one guy converted his garden shed into a layout room!

Now that's dedication to the hobby...... 

[ACL1504]

If anyone was wondering if the A&S RR had any connections, this should put you at ease.

Atlantic & Southern Railway

    Tom Langford, President and CEO

O. H. Eaton, Jr., Ticket Agent

The Atlantic & Southern is an early 1950's three level railroad located in Florida.  The three levels are connected by an ovalix.  The lower level is a staging yard. The middle level is a rural Florida scene in Tahope County[1], with swampy river scenes, forests, a farm, small industries, a small city, a passenger station, and rural businesses. A small transfer yard provides classification and switching services in the town of Sanlando.  The Tahope Branch Line provides service to the City of Tahope area.  The upper level has major industries, an urban city, an extensive classification yard, roundhouse, diesel facilities, and a major passenger station.  The ACL, L&N, NC&StL, and SAL all have trackage rights over the railroad.   Other roads have passenger and freight agreements with the ACL and provide mostly passenger relief during the winter season.  The A&S RR has regular need for coal both for local use and for electric power in Tahope County.  The Pennsylvania Railroad happily provides diesel power for this service in exchange for free passes over the A&S RR for Pennsy brass hats [2]. It is rumored that sometime in the future the Pennsy will "loan" a few still serviceable steam locomotives to the A&S prior to relegating them to the scrap heap.

The ACL and the IC pool equipment for the Miami to Chicago run of the City of Miami passenger train.  A section of the Pennsy's Broadway Limited swings south on a weekly basis during the winter season. The Southern Railway and the C&O provide limited passenger and freight service by agreement with ACL. The CB&Q provides east-west transcontinental passenger service out of Jacksonville with the Gulf Breeze section of the Pensacola Zephyr.

The A&S owns a few locomotives outright, it leases or "borrows" others.  It also owns the yards, roundhouse, and diesel repair facilities.  It contracts with other roads for maintenance and repair of locomotives in the A&S's extensive roundhouse and diesel repair facilities.

The A&S also provides local freight and passenger service in and around the rural Tahope area.

[1]Tahope is a Seminole Indian word meaning "fort."The swamps in Tahope County are full of Gators.

[2]When President Langford suggested this arrangement to the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, he also asked for passes over that line.The Pennsy president wondered why that would be fair considering the Pennsy has over 4,000 miles of track and the A&S is just a local line located mainly in a Florida swamp. He was won over by Langford's logic when he said, "Your railroad may be a mite longer than mine, but mine is just as wide."

[GPdemayo]

The rumor mill has it that some sort of complicated deal is in the works between the St. Louis & Denver and the Atlantic & Southern that will free up 4-8-4 J-3 Greenbriar #603 that the StL&D has leased from the C&O for service with the A&S as soon as it gets out of the shop.
 
The talk is this deal was struck to free up the C&O's EMD diesels to head up the streamlined cars for use on their winter snowbird train - the "Sunshine State Special". Ole' #603 would then be used with the heavyweights the C&O leased to the A&S to augment their passenger service during this very busy time of the year.
 
More on this as the negotiations move forward.
 
Here is a shot from an unamed railfan as the engine was on its way to the shops at the StL&D.
 

[bparrish]

Tom and Greg..

I wonder if you two have been out in the sun a bit too much this summer........... and hitting the sauce (something beyond diet Pepsi) more than we have suspected here in the west.........  You boys putting something in the Pepsi ? ? ?

These negotiations are something akin to the Hittite airline pilots who landed cross ways on a runway and noted how short it was but how wide it appeared.

see ya
Bob

[ACL1504]

Tom and Greg..

I wonder if you two have been out in the sun a bit too much this summer........... and hitting the sauce (something beyond diet Pepsi) more than we have suspected here in the west.........  You boys putting something in the Pepsi ? ? ?

These negotiations are something akin to the Hittite airline pilots who landed cross ways on a runway and noted how short it was but how wide it appeared.

see ya
Bob

Bob,

It's not the Diet Pepsi, so it must be the sun!

Tom

[ACL1504]

Glad to hear that your doing well Tom.  I just got back from the NMRA National meet in Portland Oregon last Sunday and man was that cool.  Lot's of stuff to do and see in that town.  Believe it or not but I even went to a guys house where he was using an old Turkey barn for a layout room!  And if you ever think that there's not enough space for a railroad, one guy converted his garden shed into a layout room!

Now that's dedication to the hobby...... 

Cousin Brucie,

Thanks for stopping by. I didn't see your post until this morning but then I haven't been on much the past few weeks. Glad to hear you had a great time. My current layout room was originally my tool shed. Yes, we are a dedicated bunch.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I hope to have more to add in the next week. This has been one crazy summer.

Tom

[BandOGuy]

For some reason, this thread reminded me this AM of a line from one of my favorite movies, Stripes. Upon seeing their beloved sergeant who had been absent for some time, the line "It is alive" was uttered.
Glad to see this thread is "alive" again!! 

[ACL1504]

For some reason, this thread reminded me this AM of a line from one of my favorite movies, Stripes. Upon seeing their beloved sergeant who had been absent for some time, the line "It is alive" was uttered.
Glad to see this thread is "alive" again!! 

Thanks Chip, so am I!

Tom

[deemery]

For some reason, this thread reminded me this AM of a line from one of my favorite movies, Stripes. Upon seeing their beloved sergeant who had been absent for some time, the line "It is alive" was uttered.
Glad to see this thread is "alive" again!! 

Thanks Chip, so am I!

Tom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3I97IFc_zU 


dave

[ACL1504]

That is a fact Jack, er, I mean Dave.

T