THE MEMPHIS BUFFTHE MEMPHIS BUFFVOLUME 36, ISSUE 1 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 36, ISSUE 1 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY JANUARY 2009 JANUARY 2009

Car Repair Shed at Nonconnah Yards Car Repair Shed at Nonconnah Yards

The “Panama Limited”, the “Memphis” The “Panama Limited”, the “Memphis” and the “Gulfport” Pullman Cars and the “Gulfport” Pullman Cars

Memphis Chapter Officers

President – David Chase dchase@memphisredbirds.comVice President – Bruce SmedleyNational Director – Bill Strong williambstrong@bellsouth.netSecretary – Oliver Doughtie doughtio@bellsouth.netTreasurer – Thomas Doherty TRDoherty@aol.comLibrarian – Mike PendergrassPublication Editor – Tom Parker tscottparker@gmail.com

Last Month’s Meeting

Last month's program was a slide presentation “Passenger Service in and Around Memphis Before Amtrak” by Terry Foshee. Terry's presentation covered passenger service beginning with early wooden passenger equipment and progressed through the era of heavyweight all steel equipment and into the post World War II lightweight streamlined trains. Virtually all types of passenger equipment were represented including, coaches, observation cars, Railway Post Offices, dining cars, lounge cars, Rail diesel cars and passenger locomotives.

This Month's Meeting

January's program will be a video presentation by Bill Strong covering the history of the former Illinois Central shops in Paducah, Ky. The presentation will cover both the Illinois Central era as well as the subsequent VMV “Paucahbilt”era.

BUFF ONLINE: www.buff.illinoiscentral.net User Name:Member Password: Buff (Capital “M” & “B”)

Cover Photo: Twin City Western GP20C 3516, May 22, 2008 at Minneapolis, MN. Originally CB&Q 901, the General Motors prime mover has been replaced with a Caterpillar diesel engine. Tom Parker Photo

Car Repair Shed at Nonconnah Yards, Memphis,TennesseeBy O. W. Melin, Assistant Engineer, Building Department

(From August 1917 Illinois Central Employees Magazine)

The Illinois Central Railroad completed last year at Non-connah Yards, four miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, a car repair shed of sufficient size to take care of all car re-pair work done at that point, with the exception of light re-pairs requiring one day or less per car. The structure is entirely fire-proof and covers over four and one-half acres, being 1,140 feet long and 176 feet wide. Eight tracks are covered, five of which were already in place and being used for car repair purposes without being covered. On a basis of fifty feet to a car, the capacity is twenty-two cars to a track or one hundred and seventy-six cars for the entire shed compared with a capa-

city of twenty-four cars each for the two old sheds. The old car repair sheds which were in the old car repair yard were of frame construction and covered four tracks each, the one shed being seventy-two feet by three hundred feet, and the other, seventy-six feet by three hundred feet.The building consists of a series of columns supporting a saw-tooth roof, with the teeth transverse to the structure in rows thirty feet apart. There are five columns in each row, placed forty- four feet center to center, with the tracks ar-ranged in pairs between each pair of columns. The roof trusses are triangular in shape, conforming to the saw-tooth and are spaced longitud-inally between columns with

two intermediate trusses in each transverse space of forty four feet. The intermediate trusses are supported by transverse trusses placed in the plane of the steep side of the sawtooth. Knee braces are provided for all transverse trusses and for the inside lon-gitudinal trusses in the planes of the columns. Structural steel girts are provided below the trusses on the two longit-udinal outside rows of columns for the support of the corrugated siding. Expansion joints are provided at three different points in the length of the building. The steel columns are supported on concrete piers varying from four and one-half to five feet in depth.The roof is covered with fed-

eral cement tile supported on steel purlins placed four feet center to center and carried on the trusses. The gutters are filled with cinder concrete which with the gutter tiles is covered with a 5 ply composi-tion roofing.

The steep side of the saw-tooth is eleven feet one inch high, seven feet of which is covered with "United Steel Sash" glazed with one-fourth inch ribbed wire glass. By us-

ing panes two feet wide and seven feet high horizontal mullions are avoided.The sides of the building from a distance fourteen feet above the track and the ends above the clearance line are covered

with No. 20 black corrugated iron. An air connection was in-stalled in each column of the outside and middle rows, giv-ing many more outlets than is

usual, reducing the expense for labor, expense of mainten-ance, and the cost of addition-al length of hose necessary, if the spacing were greater. The ground area covered ad-ditional to that formerly used

for a car repair yard required sixteen thousand cubic yards of grading, which was entirely excavation. The material was removed by an American ditcher, loaded on cars, and

Plans for the new Johnston Yard show "Locomotive Facilities" at the site of the car shop. The plan calls for razing the old shop and building a new car shop between the Inbond Tracks and the Hump Classification Tracks.

Later plans relocated the new locomotive facilities to the east end of the old car shop.

disposed of on the Y. & M. V. R. R. with a portion being used for widening of fills and for flood protection work in the Memphis terminals.The excavation for the con-crete piers supporting the columns was done by hand. The concrete mixing plant was located adjacent to the building and the concrete wheeled to the individual piers. There were one hun-dred and ninety-five piers which required four hundred and seventy-eight cubic yards of concrete.The structural steel was erec-ted without interfering with the car repair work by means of platform derricks having sixty-foot booms and mounted on timber dollies rolling on skidways placed eight feet center to center. Two of these derricks were used, being placed in the line of the longit-udinal row of columns and forty-four feet from the center line of the building. The erec-

tion was started at one end of the structure with the der-ricks backing away as the work progressed. The maxim-um reach of forty four feet was easily accomplished with the sixty-foot boom. The car repair work was interrupted only at that portion in the length of the building where the erection was in progress, as a clear space was necessary for the swinging of the boom. The transverse and two inter-mediate trusses of each bay were assembled on the ground and erected as a unit. The erection of the tile, glass and roofing did not interfere whatever with the car repair work. The fifty-two cars of roofing tile, four cars of glass, five cars of composition roof-ing and seven cars of cinder concrete material were hois-ted by the use of a three-legged tripod on the roof pur-lins, a single hoist and two mules.Approximately two thousand feet of sewer was necessary to

provide the necessary drain-age.Work was started on Novem-ber 20, 1915, and completed May 23, 1916, the concrete foundations being built in ninety-nine days, steel erected in sixty days, and the tile roof placed in fifty-three days.The operation of the car re-pair yard was so efficient dur-ing the construction of this structure that there was a re-duction in the number of bad-order cars on hand instead of an increase as would naturally be expected. The speed in the construction was due largely to the co-operation of the local officials of the Transportation, Maintenance and Mechanical Departments.The track work, grading, pile driving, pipe laying, other than sewer work, moving buildings and miscellaneous work, was done by a B. and B. gang, assigned to this work.The structural steel was fab-ricated by the American Bridge Company and erected by Kelly Atkinson Company of Chicago, the foundations and sewers were placed by E. H. Walsh Sons of Memphis, Tenn., and the placing of the composition roofing, sheet metal work and painting was done by Nohsey & Schwab of Memphis, Tennessee.

A later view of the new Locomotive Facilities (warehouse in foreground)

The “Panama Limited”and the

“Memphis” and “Gulfport” Pullman Cars By Tom Parker

The first “Panama Limited” was inaugurated on February 4, 1911, when the former “Chicago and New Orleans Limited” was renamed in honor of the construction of the Panama Canal, which opened for traffic in 1914. In 1916 it became an all sleeping car train featuring all steel sleepers, a diner, a club car and an observation car. It sur-vived until May 28, 1932, when it was discontinued for economic reasons during the Great Depression. It was res-restored on December 2, 1934, with air conditioned cars and a new 18 hour schedule between Chicago and New Orleans.When the “Panama” was dies-elized in on May 3,1942, the

two sets of new streamline lightweight equipment in-

cluded “tail cars” named “Gulfport” and “Memphis”.

Early view of the interior of the lounge/observation section of the “Memphis” or “Gulfport”. The cars were later redecorated and the bamboo/rattan theme was replaced with more a New Orleans type decor featuring wrought iron, colorful wallpaper and drapes, and more comfortable reclining chairs.

The two cars' accommodations consisted of a drawing room, two double bedrooms, 2 com-partments, a lounge with seat-ing for 17 passengers, and an observation room with seating for 8.On the morning of July 14, 1942,a little over 2 months after entering service, the “Memphis” was involved in a major incident three miles north of Millington, TN near Kerrville when the three rear cars of the ”Panama” derailed.The “Memphis” overturned and plowed along the track for several hundred feet and plunged down a steep em-bankment on its side. The two cars ahead of the “Memphis”, the “Timberland” and the “Land o' Strawberry” de-railed but remained upright. Six passengers were rescued from the overturned car. Sur-

prisingly, only four were slightly injured and none re-quired hospitalization. Investigation revealed that spikes and tie bars had been removed from the track just north of a bridge over Bear Creek. Investigators specu-lated that it was the intent of the saboteur for the train to plunge into the creek, but the speed of the “Panama” al-

lowed most of the cars to pass over the rail before it became displaced. Authorities later arrested James Edward Payne, a track worker for the Illinois Central who lived nearby. His stated motive was to rob the “rich folks” on the train.“Memphis” was returned to Pullman for repair. Initially Pullman wanted to scrap the car and replace it, but the War Production Board ordered it repaired and returned to ser-vice. Over two decades later, On the morning of July 5, 1965, the “Memphis” was involved in another serious accident. The southbound “Panama” en route to Memphis had over-taken a slower moving freight train just north of Halls, TN. The freight was too long to fit in the siding, so a maneuver called a “saw” was required to allow the passenger train to

The "Memphis" (or "Gulfport") at Hammond LA

The Siding at Halls, TN. The "Panama" was in the siding between the two mainlines. The freight was sitting on the Souhbound main (bottom track). When the "Panama" cleared the switch on the North (left) end of the siding, the freight train was to back up to clear the south end of the siding thereby allowing the passenger train to pass.

pass.The freight was ordered to stop on the southbound main-line just in the clear of the north end of the siding at Halls, TN. The “Panama” was to head into the siding and wait until the freight backed up enough to clear the switch on the south end of the siding, then proceed in front of the freight.Without warning, before the “Panama” was in the clear, the freight suddenly began backing up. The caboose crashed into the vestibule of the “Memphis”, the last car on the “Panama” that night and ripping a hole thirty feet long in the side of the car. The conductor, Jack O. Edwards of Memphis, who was stand-ing in the vestibule super-vising the “saw” was fatally injured and died in the hos-pital at Dyersburg, TN. Pull-man Porter, Clarence W. Sut-ton of Chicago, IL, was also killed, dying before he could be extricated from the wreck-age. The story circulating around the railroad immediately after the accident was that the en-gineer of the freight, taking the extinguishing of the pas-senger trains headlight as an indication the it was in the clear, began backing up be-fore being given a signal from his conductor on the rear end.

Operating Rules state “Turn the headlight off when the train is stopped clear of the main track. However, an ex-tinguished headlight does not indicate that a train is clear of the main track.” Evidently, the engineer over-

looked that last sentence.Contrary to some reports, “Memphis” was not cut up on sight. It was spotted some days later at Johnston Yard, the gash in the side covered with plywood, the patch painted orange and brown to match the rest of the car. Evidently the decision to scrap the car was made some time later and probably the cost of the repairs versus de-clining passenger revenues de-cided the cars fate as much as

anything. The “Gulfport” remained in service a few years longer and was sold to Bobbie Thompson Farms in Thorton, MS in 1968. It was moved to Bee Lake, MS and made into a fishing “cabin” The “Gulf-

port” moldered in the Missis-sippi woods until 2005 when it was sold to the Monticello Railway Museum at Monti-cello, IL. When refurbished, it will join the museum's fleet of ten other Illinois Central pas-senger cars.

Sources: June 2007 and December 2008 ICHS' “Green Diamond”, July 15, 1942 and July 6, 1965 Commer-cial Appeal.

The "Gulfport" moldered in the Mississippi woods until 2005.

CABOOSE

Winston Salem Southbound caboose 664. Photo taken at Wadesboro, North Carolina, 5/15/55 From the collection of Mike Pendergrass

Meeting Schedule

January 12, 2009February 9, 2009

March 9, 2009April 13, 2009May 11, 2009

Meetings are the 2nd Monday of each month in the White Station Branch

Library from 7-9 pm.5094 Poplar Avenue

Memphis, TN (in front of Clark Tower)

Contact the EditorTom Parker

3012 Wood Thrush DriveMemphis, TN 38134

tscottparker@gmail.com

THE MEMPHIS BUFF welcomes contributions for publication. Copyrighted materials must contain the source. Original documents and photos are preferred for clarity. Enclose a SASE for the return of your materials. Articles sent via the Internet should be in Microsoft Word format. Photos should be JPEG files @ 72 dpi and at least 800x600 size. Consideration for a cover photo would require a much higher resolution. THE MEMPHIS BUFF is a not-for-profit publication for the Memphis Chapter of the NRHS. All credited photos herein are copyright by the photographer and may not be reused without permission.