THE MEMPHIS BUFFVolume 34, Issue 6 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY September 2007

September Meeting - Special Meeting Location

Ridin' the rails - Chicago to New Orleans in a Private Car

Ohio River Bridge Fire

Antique Railcars From Tennessee to North Carolina

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

August Meeting

We had seventeen attendees at the June meeting. Dave Chase brought the meeting to order. The chapter discussed MJ Scanlon stepping down as editor of the Memphis Buff. Tom Parker has volunteered to serve as interim editor of the Buff for the time being. Please contact Tom with any articles or photographs that you would like to submit. On a lighter note, Dave Chase mentioned mayoral candidate Carol Chumney offered to come speak to our group regarding her desire to ban all hazardous rail shipments through the city of Memphis. Although I believe Dave respectfully declined her invitation, I am sure she would have taught us all a few things about how “dangerous” all these rail shipments are to us.

Bill Strong presented a video on passenger train travel from New York to Los Angeles, which featured three Amtrak trains that are no longer in service. The trip began in New York’s Pennsylvania Station aboard the Broadway Limited, which took us through Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station on to Chicago’s Union Station. From Chicago, we rode the California Zephyr to Salt Lake City, riding the Burlington Northern route from Chicago to Denver and then the Rio Grande from Denver to Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake City, we rode the Desert Wind on to Los Angeles’ Union Station The video featured many of the whistle stops along the 3312 mile route and showed some spectacular scenery that only a passenger train can provide.

Our September meeting will be a joint meeting with the West Tennessee Historical Society at the Wunderlich Auditorium at Memphis University School. MUS is located at 6191 Park Avenue on the southeast corner of Park and Ridgeway. At the meeting, Bill Strong will present the history of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

-Doug Doughtie

Cover Photo: IC 2720 crosses new bridgework at the West End of Johnston “C” Yard. New

bridges are part of the extensive renovation of Johnston Yard. Tom Parker photo.

SPECIAL LOCATION FOR SEPTEMBER MEETINGThe September meeting of the Memphis Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society will be

held in conjunction with the West Tennessee Historical Society. Our own Bill Strong will present “The History of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad”. The meeting will be held at the usual date and time, September 10th at 7:00 PM, but the location will be the Wunderlich Auditorium (Number 13 on the map below) at Memphis University School. Use the Eastern entrance on Park Avenue and park in the lot south of the McCaughan Science Center.

Firefighters battle heat, height over Ohio River railroad bridge

(The following report appeared on the Paducah Sun website on August 19.)

PADUCAH, Ky. — Firefighters had plenty of water Saturday to extinguish about 50 burning crossties along the tracks of the Canadian National Illinois Central Railroad bridge over the Ohio River. The problem was lugging the water close enough to douse the flames high over the river.

The fire was contained to the first steel span near the first pier on the Kentucky side. Flames were about 150 yards from land and approximately 100 feet above the river's surface, creating several challenges for the firefighters, West McCracken Fire Chief Donald Elrod said. The bridge connects Paducah and Metropolis, Ill., and crosses the river near Metropolis Ferry Landing Road in Paducah and Harrah's Metropolis Casino in Illinois.

Firefighters also had to battle two sources of heat -- from the flames and from the sizzling August sun that pushed the thermometer past 90 degrees. A fierce wind also fanned the bright orange flames along the trestle.

West McCracken and Concord firefighters resorted to methods similar to fighting field fires, Elrod said. They strapped five-gallon water tanks on their backs and were shuttled from a Noble Road staging area to the fire on a Canadian National vehicle modified to run on railroad tracks.

CN Bridge over the Ohio River.

"It is difficult to get any resources over the river," Elrod said. "It was called into us as a brush fire, and it was the brush fire equipment that we used to extinguish it. But the wind really had an effect out there. We also wanted to keep everyone cool and safe."

The five-gallon tanks emptied quickly, forcing firefighters to make numerous trips back to the staging area for refills. Firefighters also were equipped with extinguishers that shot flame-smothering foam. Stuffed in their jacket pockets were several bottles of drinking water to ward off dehydration.

Concord Chief Bob McGowan, who coordinated the staging area, said the foam helped the backpacks' limited water supply last longer.

"The firefighters would knock down the flames and when they'd run out of water, the fire would kick back up," McGowan said.

Firefighters used chain saws to cut off several burning crossties in an effort to contain the fire, Elrod said.

On the Illinois side of the fire, Metropolis firefighters used a pressure washer attached to a tanker truck, Elrod said.

Dense black smoke rolling off the bridge could be seen from several miles away, while smoldering debris could be seen dropping from the bridge and into the river.

The cause of the fire had not been determined. Elrod and other firefighters speculated that a spark from a coal train that traveled across Saturday morning may have ignited some crossties that are covered in creosote to prevent rotting.

The bridge remained closed Saturday. Efforts to contact Canadian National for comment were not successful Saturday.

The blaze also become a working lesson in how to battle a bridge fire over the river, Elrod's first in 46 years as a firefighter.

"We've fought several train fires, and the railroad brings the train to Noble Road and we fight it there," Elrod said. "But you can't move the bridge. There were a lot of lessons learned today in working over the river and water safety."

East Marshall Fire Department firefighters drove their fire boat on a trailer to Metropolis and launched from Fort Massac State Park. However, water from the boat's fire hose could not reach the burning span because of the low river level. Firefighters on the bridge were attempting to lower several sections of fire hose to the boat when the fire was brought under control about 2 p.m., Elrod said. It was extinguished at 3:04 p.m.

The Paducah fire barge remained on standby, but a several-hour wait at Brookport Lock and Dam 52 would have delayed its response.

No injuries were reported.

EDITOR'S NOTE:The cars involved in the following article are IC 2904, SLSF 1506 and SCL 0812. SLSF 1506 was built by AC&F in 1912. It was converted from a coach to a cafe/lounge car by the Frisco. IC 2904 was a heavyweight coach that was convereted into a kitchen car and used on the Carbondale, IL wrecker. The caboose is an “M-5” type.

Railroad restoration expert Robert Franzen, president of Steam Services of America, examines one of the window frames that will be restored on a vintage dining car to be erected at the new Aiken Railroad Depot. (Tony Baughman photo)

Antique train cars arrive in AikenSat, Aug 18, 2007

By TONY BAUGHMAN

Staff writer

Like ghosts from the past, the thin black letters — FRISCO — materialize only when the sunlight strikes their cloak of red rust just right.

The wooden floors of the once-lavish rolling lounge are now splintered. Shards of broken glass are all that remain of windows that framed America's majesty for passengers aboard the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway.

But in the battered and corroded shell of a railroad car that rolled onto Park Avenue late Friday morning, the organizers of the Aiken Railroad Depot see a grand vision:

"We're going to restore it to what it looked like in the '20s — paneling on the inside, mahogany and

walnut carving, chandeliers, draperies, thick carpet, white tablecloths, mahogany chairs and tables," said Don Barnes, a railroad enthusiast advising the All Aboard committee in its efforts to faithfully reconstruct Aiken's 1899-area depot at the corner of Union Street and Park Avenue.

"We want to paint it in Pullman green like they had back in the '20s, put the gold leaf 'City of Aiken' along the side. We're going to put an observation platform on the end of the other one with a railing around it. It'll have a 'City of Aiken' drumhead on it."

Late Friday afternoon, the second of two vintage dining cars — which will stand alongside the new depot as venues for receptions and other special events — completed its treacherous 530-mile odyssey from Puryear, Tenn. The trip took four days on a convoy of five tractor-trailers and was slowed by daytime-only driving restrictions and a run-in with Georgia highway officials over one of the rail cars' 130,000-pound heft.

The railway vehicles arrived in Aiken under a police escort.

Two massive cranes from White Crane Co. of Columbia were scheduled to lift the dining cars onto specially-installed tracks at the depot site, but a late afternoon thunderstorm delayed their placement until this morning. The crane crews were expected to begin work around 6:30 a.m.

"We're going to err on the side of safety and come back when there's no wind and no lightning and try to get them set," said Tim Simmons, chairman of the depot committee.

The first dining car, an 85-foot monster built in the late 1800s, is ravaged by time, neglect and the elements and

raised eyebrows when it arrived at Gyles Park. The second, a red Illinois Central car built in the 1920s, arrived in somewhat better condition but with graffiti still blanketing one side.

Restoring all three cars, which were purchased for $16,000, is expected to cost $350,000 and take upwards of six months. The oldest dining car will offer the greatest challenge.

"It's a big project, but it's a doable project," said Robert Franzen, president of Steam Services of

America in Sylva, N.C., the company hired to refurbish the dining cars. "It's not a piece of junk. It's going to take some work and a lot of elbow grease, a little cutting and welding of new plate, but we're going to make this thing into a nice-looking car. It looks bad because it's been rusting, but once you scuff off that old paint and you put some new paint on there, it's going to look good."

Oliver Finnie, a resident of the neighborhood surrounding Gyles Park, was among the curious gathered to watch the arrival of the dining cars. He even posed for a group picture alongside the smaller dining car to preserve the historic moment — a moment he believes will help revitalize his neighborhood.

"The trains had a lot to do with African-Americans in Aiken, and it's a pleasure to see the efforts and work that was done. It's almost like a memorial to those times," he said. "It's raising the awareness of this part of the neighborhood. There's so much going on on the south side of town, but this is bringing awareness to other parts of Aiken that are going unnoticed."

Reprinted from the Aiken(NC) Standard8/18/07

Post Intelligencer Photos

A crew from Crane Services Inc. of Jackson worked Tuesday in Puryear to load two 1920s train cars and a caboose onto trucks for their move to Aiken, S.C. The City of Aiken has purchased the cars and will use them to build a restaurant outside a restored railroad depot, according to city representative Don Barnes. He said Aiken is restoring the depot, which was constructed in 1899, for use as a social hall.

Reprinted from The Paris (TN) Post Intelligencer8/16/07

Ridin' the Rails By PAUL MCDONALD, For the Courier

Good mornin' America, how are you?Don't you know me? I'm your native son!I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans ..." Arlo Guthrie

Long before private jets and custom tour buses, many wealthy Americans traveled aboard their own private or corporate railroad car.

Owners attached luxury rail cars to passenger trains traveling across North America. Then air travel replaced rails. With the exception of commuter trains, today train travel is viewed as a novelty.

But not all private rail cars ended up in salvage yards or train museums. A few corporations and individuals still own cars, and I was invited to climb aboard the San Marino car, owned by Dean Levin, for a trip from Chicago to its home berth in New Orleans.

On July 28, we were the last train in Amtrak's "City of New Orleans," one of the rail system's most famous trains immortalized by Arlo Guthrie. Always popular when it was operated by the Illinois Central Railroad, "The City of New Orleans" cuts through the heart of America and displays it for viewing at ground level.

Levin purchased the car in 2002. It was in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition, retaining its original wood interior. After making several trips, Levin stored the car in New Orleans, where it was damaged in Hurricane Katrina and later in a tornado. It was moved to a shop near Milwaukee, where it underwent mechanical restoration. A new stainless steel kitchen was installed, furniture was refinished and reupholstered and the car was given a new coat of exterior paint.

Now it was parked in Chicago, awaiting our departure. Several Amtrak passengers asked about the San Marino and seemed shocked to learn the private cars still exist. After a quick tour, they left convinced it was the only way to travel. "Now I'll go back to my spot in steerage," one woman remarked as she left.

The San Marino was built in 1916 for Henry Huntington, the nephew of a founder of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific purchased the car in the 1920s and used it until the 1970s, when it was sold to a Mexican railroad. It was soon purchased by a Texas corporation and returned to the United States.

A typical private rail car contained a full kitchen, dining room for four to 10 people, multiple bedrooms and a lounge, often with an open platform so the owner and his guests could enjoy an unobstructed view of the countryside. All this comfort was contained in an 85-feet long car weighing up to 100 tons. Most were built by Pullman Co., just south of Chicago.

After passing an Amtrak inspection, the cars can be attached to its passenger trains for about $2.50 per mile. Most cars

have been restored and upgraded to meet Amtrak's mechanical specifications.

We backed out of Chicago Union Station and were switched to a track connecting us to Illinois Central's main line to New Orleans. With Chicago's skyline visit from the rear of our car, we rounded the last curve out of the station and headed south at 85 miles per hour.

About 4 a.m., we crossed the Ohio River on the impressive bridge at Cairo, Ill., and traveled into Kentucky. North of Memphis, sun broke through early morning fog, and we entered the city on a twisting route along alleys and streets and past mansions. Later we were in Mississippi, which amazingly resembled rural Iowa.

Louisiana felt like a different country. The temperature felt like 150 F, and large swamps covering many square miles flanked the train. I spotted a large alligator cooling off, his head out of the water.

Just north of New Orleans, we followed the west side of Lake Pontchartrain, crossing a portion of it on a bridge. It looked like an ocean. Entering the city, I saw only a few signs of hurricane damage. We rounded a curve and backed into the station 15 minutes early.

From the San Marino's comfortable lounge, we saw front yards, backyards, junk yards, main streets, alleys, factories and farms.

Those passengers in Chicago were right. It's the only way to travel.

The aisle runs the length of the train car Paul McDonald for the Courier

Reprinted from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier 8/12/07

CABOOSE

IC 9531 preserved at Monticello Railway Museum, Monticello IL (www.prairienet.org/mrm) Tom Parker photo

Meeting Schedule

September 10, 2007October 8 , 2007

NOTE: SPECIAL LOCATION FOR SEPTEMBER

Meetings are the 2nd Monday of each month in the White Station Branch Library from 7-9

pm.

5094 Poplar AvenueMemphis, TN (in front of Clark Tower)

Contact the EditorTom Parker

3012 Wood Thrush DriveMemphis, TN 38122

tscottparker@gmail.com

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