Members Keith Kittinger, Rick Bivins, Steve Miller, and Will Kling visited the HO layout of Mark
Nolan, near Nashville, TN, last month for an operating session. Mark models the Illinois Central on
his 3-level layout. Thanks to Will King for the photos.
by Gary Ostlund
The railroads were big on paperwork. This story is taken from the book: “Blow the Whistle Softly” an anthology by the late Ruth Eckes, a friend of mine in Federal Way, Washington. She published a series of six books, all short stories by railroaders from all around the country. Ruth graduated from HS in 1944, went to the Northern Pacific Railway telegraph-operators school in Jamestown, ND. Her first assignment as a full-fledged telegrapher was at Kanaskat, Washington, way up in the Cascade Mountains. There was an outhouse, no running water or electricity. Ruth was 17 years old. Ten Blackbirds, by Bill Harshfield – Maple Valley, Washington.
Accident reports to “railroad brass” sometimes required “word pictures” to get the point across to them. The following section foreman story is an example: A section foreman, while going to work one morning, derailed his track motor car causing quite a lot of damage to the “speeder.”* He made out the required customary accident reports in detail explaining the cause, any injuries – if any, the amount damage, what could have been done to prevent the accident, etc. He then sent it to the superintendent’s office. By return mail he received a very caustic note telling him his report was entirely too long, and for him to fill out a new, much shorter one. This he did, and here was his report: “Ten blackbirds were sitting on the rail, nine flew away. One was a rock”.
* speeder is another name for motor car, a picture (above) I took of Roger Sackett of Renton, Washington. In 1987, we took a ride on his Speeder on the former Milwaukee Road in the Snoqualmie Pass area. The majority of the former Milwaukee right-of-way is now a deluxe hiking and biking trail. Today you can trek safely from Seattle to the Idaho border, with occasional breaks. These “Speeders” as they were called, have not been used by the railroads for many years, and their disposal created a whole new railfan hobby.
In this case, Sackett purchased this unit from a scrapper. It had no engine but otherwise was in good condition. He mounted a Briggs & Stratton with some creative bicycle type chain drive and Wahlah. Those handles sticking out from the front, slide to the rear and made it possible for a worker to lift the unit off the rails from the front or rear. The short wheel-base creates a very low center-of-gravity, and with little effort you can wheel-barrow the Speeder away from the track for a passing train. The railroads had designated places for such removal, called “Set-offs,” where wooden planks permanently secured to the ties, between the rails, to create a relatively even surface and a platform of sorts extended away from the active rails. Or you could use a highway crossing like we did numerous times. Roger is using a come-along to literally drag the Speeder around the errant log.
The Milwaukee line across the Cascades had been closed since 1980. We successfully got the speeder past this obstruction, only to find another around the next curve. Hah. We turned around and went back and beyond where we “set-on.” And enjoyed the day. Speeder enthusiasts have their own organization called NARCOA, (North American Rail Car Operators Association). You can barely see the baseplate of a scissors jack under the rig. He can wind it down and do a U-turn, anywhere.
By William Farrell
On December 21st the Western Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in conjunction with Golden Ticket Theaters held a community event for the children of Madisonville, Kentucky. All children 12 years old and under were allowed into the theater free for a special showing of the Christmas classic movie, “The Polar Express”.
With the cooperation of the Hopkins County School system all second graders in the county received a ticket to the movie for December 21. In the information that was sent home from school was the date and time of the shows. The show was open to any child with or without a ticket. Just like in the movie the children were asked to wear their pajamas to the theater. In fact, the theater manager encouraged her staff to wear their pajamas to work that evening.
Our chapter has several members that have strange resemblance to some of the chapters in the movie. We were able to provide a Santa Claus, conductor, engineer, firemen, and a great looking waiter. We had a hobo but unfortunately the covid bug had him at home. Oh, I almost forgot and one large elf. The chapter had two Polar Express back drops hanging in the theater lobby. Parent of the children were
encouraged to take pictures of their child with one or all the characters provided by our chapter. That seemed to be a big hit with the parents and the children who were attending. The truth is I think the chapter members who were dressed in costume had more fun than the people attending the show. Two of the wives of members baked cookies and in between shows we partied in the lobby of the theater.
After the movie was over and as the children exited the show, they were offered an inch and a half sleigh bell if they believed. At this point each child had an opportunity to sit with Santa and talk briefly. This became another photo opt. for the parents, in fact some of the parents got to sit with the big man in red too.
The manager of the Golden Ticket Theater (Madisonville) said the event was a success and would like to do this event again next year. Some of the chapter members have already started planning on how to improve the event and make it better for December of 2025.
NRHS Western Kentucky Chapter Membership: I am looking for photos of the Tradewater Railway, Western Kentucky Railway, Fredonia Valley, and/or Illinois Central (Gulf) related to the railroad line between Princeton, Kentucky and Henderson, Kentucky via Sturgis, Blackford, Providence, etc. The line was leased by P&L from Princeton to Blackford between 1990 and 1994.
While I have photos from the normal venues (Trains magazine, our chapter website/archives, newspapers.com, Flickr, Facebook, RRpicturearchives, Railpictures, etc.), but I’m looking for any photos take by our membership and are willing to scan/share. Primarily interested in 1970s/1980s diesel era, but steam is welcomed as well.
Anything from the collection of Rob Stubblefield, Dennis Carnal, Jerry Mart and/or Wallace
Henderson would be greatly welcomed and appreciated.
This is in reference to a personal research project only – no magazine or book publication –
just my own interest in this line.
Many thanks in advance. Chris Dees
Most of my memories of the Hook & Eye revolve around Ellijay, Georgia, a small hamlet on the Coosawattee River valley, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, in Gilmer County. The Coosawattee begins in Ellijay, formed but the merging of the Cartecay and Ellijay rivers behind my uncle Bob’s office of Thomas Oil. The L&N reached Ellijay and points north via their branch line beginning at Elizabeth (Marietta), GA, Cobb County. It was a winding and hilly route which ultimately was it’s undoing with the new line located a few miles to the west following US hwy 411 from Cartersville, GA, to Knoxville, TN.
My earliest memories stem from short stops my mother would make for me if we happened to catch the northbound afternoon freight coming across Hwy 52, in East Ellijay. Back then there were a couple of industries to switch: West Pulpwood, and LP gas storage facility, Garland Lumber, and a team track with a conveyor unloader under the track for sand, coal, gravel, etc. I’ve been told there was once an oil transfer station north of the depot where oil from tankers were emptied by gravity to trucks on a lower level road. I remember F units and early GPs, all 4 axle due to the weight and curve restrictions on the line. In my teen years, after CSX took over, trains ran only as needed from the south (Tate), and often arrived in the middle of the night. I occasionally made it to the depot to watch the night switching and the turnaround maneuvers needed to get the train headed back south. Next month, I’ll talk about those specific moves and sitting aboard the caboose while the front end crew handled the switching.
Thanks for the memories! Bill Thomas