Meet at Glen Mary

[Ponce de Leon]

As a young reader of Trains Magazine, the January 1961 issue will always be a landmark for me. An outstanding article by Parker Lamb and Bruce Myer covered a ride on the "Plug." This was before the 1963 line changes, of course.

Before I headed for home Thursday, I made it as far south as Glen Mary. A side bar in the article was titled "Meet at Glen Mary." This crossover has always been a favorite of mine---just because of the great name.

Wouldn't we all like to be aboard 51 that snowy day when it was coiling up Alpine Hill between Tateville and KD Tower----the "old way"?

RF

[butch]

That's a great issue and story and you know I'd be first in line to sign up for that ride!

[E.M. Bell]

I think that is the first picture I have seen with "modern" power and any of the tunnels. I cant recall ever seeing that issue of Trains (and I have a couple of boxes of the older ones)...Where could a feller find a copy of that?? I would love to see the rest of that article!

[butch]

I think I have two copies of the issue, let me check.  If not, ebay is your friend.

[Ponce de Leon]

I have a hard copy somewhere, but those images were screen shots taken from my Trains DVD.

[lwjabo]

What made the Spark Plug so hot is it had to feed 3 different auto plants in the Atlanta area. They were always waiting on that train. While they never lined it into the receiving yard they were on it bleeding air so it could be humped. The plug was always a fair size train so it was going into one of the tracks that was long. Plus Inman is on the side of a hill so have to put hand brakes on the north end to hold it. After is is humped it was made up into 3 different cuts. Doraville, Lake Wood and Hapeville. The cars had to be in place about 5:30am at the plants. Was no time to kill. The train needed to be at Inman by 11pm. Any later it would be a problem. From Inman it had to go to a smaller yard to be sitched for spots. Then to the plants.

[Batman]

Glen Mary Oct 1993

[Ponce de Leon]

My first thought was---1993 wasn't that long ago. My math tells me it was, though. Time gets away from us.

This was late in the old excursion program. Where was 611, 4501 or whatever?

[etalcos]

WOW!  A neat topic to start with, but Batman's photo brings back a flood of memories.  We had the Fort Oglethorpe leased to TVRM for these trips and went with it in case it had a hick-up.  We came out of the storage track there at Oneida and crossed over to the far main.  When we got to Pemberton we got a clear signal and the engineer wiped the throttle on those '38s and in short order we were up to 60MPH which was the passenger/TOFC speed there at the time.  I timed off 3 successive miles in the 59 to 61 second range.  Remember the 45 MPH was some BS hatched for the tea kettles. 

In short order the Trainmaster (Roger Armstrong -- great guy, sells trucks at the Ford dealer in Harriman now) got on the radio and reminded the crew that we weren't due back in Chattanooga for 4 hours and if this kept up it would only take 2 (or to the effect).  Anyway the trip was much more leisurely after that.  But for a few minutes you got a good sense of what the New Royal Palm would have been like! 

The other funny was the expression on the photographer's faces at the New River Bridge.  They were expecting the 4501 and I don't think a pair of 38-2s was doing the trick for them.  I got the impression that all the way up to the night before 4501 was supposed to go, but mechanical gremlins did her in.  What I'd give for a pair of 38s hustling a string of passenger cars along at 60MPH today.

Then there was the RPCA trip in Chicago one frozen January morning with the C&NW GP-7 coach yard switcher for passenger power.  But that's another story for a different forum on another day...........  Damn I feel old and yet I remember all like it was yesterday.

Charlie

[Ponce de Leon]

The 45 MPH speed restriction for the steam locomotives was imposed after the 1986 derailment in the (Virginia) Great Dismal Swamp. One of the older Southern heavyweights picked a switch at speed, derailing itself and 12 other cars of the 23 car employee appreciation train being pulled by 611. Robert Claytor was at the throttle at the time, and it's not really clear how fast they were running----but, J's were known to hit 100 MPH on that stretch in regular service.

RF

[etalcos]

Ron, not sure we can lay blame for that one on the rolling stock.  I think condition of the switch and perhaps train handling had a hand in it as well.  I wonder which company officer gets to do the investigation of the CEO post accident?  Did they find anything "incriminating" when they inspected the wheels of the derailed cars?   

The primary problem with the rolling stock was the lack of tightlock couplers in all cars/engines.  The intent of the tightlock being that it would keep the cars coupled and in line vs. an E type coupler that will drop allowing cars to jack knife and/or telescope.  Notice that I said that was the intent of the tightlock -- experience has taught that sometimes they do a better job than others.  So after it was already on the ground the lack of tightlocks in the old Southern heavyweights surely contributed to the mess. 

Life involves a certain amount of risk.  The question then and now is how much are you willing to take.  After the Dismal Swamp, the answer was about 45MPH worth.  A few years later the answer was none.  Now it appears that the answer is a little maybe, at least to Maryville and back? 

And yes "45 MPH BS" may have been a bad choice of words.

[Ponce de Leon]

I think Claytor had to at least pee in the cup...but clearly they weren't going to blame him.

It was likely a combination of a switch point that wasn't closed all the way (blame it on the MofW department), plus maybe a thin flange on the leading wheel of one of those six-wheel trucks. Yep....the lack of tightlocks on some of those old Southern heavyweights certainly contributed to the jackknifing that followed.

45 MPH instead of 60 only brings some psychological relief, because if you split a switch, you're derailed whether you're doing 100, or 10. The difference in speed just defines how bad the derailment will be.

[kbarnett]

Yes, MOW did get the blame. I can't remember the details but it was something to do with rail bolts at the switch and the high temps that day. It was a trailing switch anyway. Also NS dropped the speed for steam to 40MPH the following season 1987.