Told to me years ago

[lwjabo]

When the rails first got Air Brakes. At first it was slow and only with time did all the cars get equiped. The ones without air would be put on the rear of the train and were know as dumby's. They kept this up till all finaly got them.
Souther had a wide gage. Wider than the norm or the Pennsylvania gage. Southern was required to go to the new gage. So what they did was put a third rail at the new gage. They did it all over the system. Then in one weekend they shut down the rail way. Remember it was Southern Railway not Souther Railroad. Then on that weekend they converted the entire system to the new gage. Every track and spur was equiped with the new rail so on that weekend all they did was replace the trucks on boxcars and drivers on the engines. When it was told to me I askded if they ment they did each division that way and they said no as the entire System was converted that weekend. Many of the men were third generation rail. There grandfathers hired on the line as it was built. Before it became Southern.
Chattanooga was the bigest terminal on the system for away from home crews. Atlanta, Birmingham, Sherfield, Knoxville and Cedartown crews stayed at the old dorm on Scrugs st. The name of the dorm was the Citico Hotel. Few called it that and I never saw a sign saying it but was told by the older men. The more common names used was the grap. The beanery and a few names I want post. That way I can't get into trouble.

[blacksheep]

daddy stayed at the citico years ago, back in the early 60's. he worked in the shop but he had a farm miles from town and just went home on off days. he's told me tales about things those boys got into.

[lwjabo]

By the time I hired in 71 only train and engine crews stayed at the Citico. There were a number of shop men who rented a room in the neighborhood. A poker game at the Citico could go on for weeks. One guty get called to work and another would take his place. The women who cleanded the place would clean around it for days and finaly make them move to another table. The shop men were forced to move from smaller shops that had closed I was told. Refering to the one who boarded near the yard. The neighborhood got a bit more rough as drugs became more popular. Several men were robbed and I'm guessing Souther figured they had better move us for that reason. The Unions had been trying for years to get us out of there. We then moved to the Patton Hotel. A Hotel that had seen better days. They have moved several times after that and I was told they had moved since I retired in 2005. The hotels got better with time. Still some were rather bad. There was a Jewelry store near the Choo Chool ran by a man ncalled Diamond Jim. If you are old enough you can remember his ads on TV. He was a watch inspector for both L&N and Southern. We had payroll deduction on anything we bought from him. Just say I would not trust him as far as I could throw him. He was known to have a bottle of hard stuff for any railroader. Walk in sober and walk out drunk and very much in debt to him. Not all watch inspectors were like that. We had to have our watches inspected every year. He often would show up arround Christmas at the Citico and Inspect watches but his main business was to sell you something.

[Matt L]

When the rails first got Air Brakes. At first it was slow and only with time did all the cars get equiped. The ones without air would be put on the rear of the train and were know as dumby's. They kept this up till all finaly got them.
Souther had a wide gage. Wider than the norm or the Pennsylvania gage. Southern was required to go to the new gage. So what they did was put a third rail at the new gage. They did it all over the system. Then in one weekend they shut down the rail way. Remember it was Southern Railway not Souther Railroad. Then on that weekend they converted the entire system to the new gage. Every track and spur was equiped with the new rail so on that weekend all they did was replace the trucks on boxcars and drivers on the engines. When it was told to me I askded if they ment they did each division that way and they said no as the entire System was converted that weekend. Many of the men were third generation rail. There grandfathers hired on the line as it was built. Before it became Southern.
Chattanooga was the bigest terminal on the system for away from home crews. Atlanta, Birmingham, Sherfield, Knoxville and Cedartown crews stayed at the old dorm on Scrugs st. The name of the dorm was the Citico Hotel. Few called it that and I never saw a sign saying it but was told by the older men. The more common names used was the grap. The beanery and a few names I want post. That way I can't get into trouble.

Your story about Southern's gauge is similar to what happened on the Erie. The Erie was built as a 6 ft gauge line. They put in a 3rd rail between Waverly and Buffalo in NY (around 1869?) to accomodate the Lehigh Valley and later standard gauged the entire line virtually overnight in 1880. NS now owns much of the former Erie that survives in upstate NY.