THE MEMPHIS BUFF
VOLUME 39, ISSUE 8
NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
August 2012
View From the Top A Railroad Vacation (Part 1) NS Heritage Unit Family Portrait
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Memphis Chapter Officers President – Walter Lang
walterhlang@yahoo.com
Vice President – Bruce Smedley Director – Bill Strong Secretary/Treasurer – Thomas Doherty Program Co-chairman – Carl Lancaster Program Co-chairman – Don Weis Yahoo Group Co-ordinater – Terry Redeker Newsletter Editor – Tom Parker
williambstrong@bellsouth.net TRDoherty@aol.com DBWeis@aol.com tkredeker@hotmail.com tscottparker@gmail.co
July Meeting The July meeting was held at the Germantown Library on 12 July. It was decided that the August meeting work be held at Dino's on August 9th, dinner at 6:00 PM, meeting at 7:00 PM. The October Tennessee Central train excursion has been moved back one week to October 13th. This will allow the train to arrive in Monterey for their fall festival. The deadline has been extended until August 5th. Dave Johnston presented a slide show featuring his pictures of railroading around the Memphis area. See everyone at Dino's bring your "sweethearts" with you.
August Meeting August 9th at Dino's Grill, 645 North McLean. The meeting will be at 7:00 PM, but the meeting room will be available at 6:00 PM, so all members are invited to come early and enjoy dinner at Dino's before the meeting. See the Caboose page for a map.
**DATE CHANGE** BIG EVENT The Chapter will sponsor a group trip on Oct 13 for the 216 mile round trip from Nashville to Monterey on the Tennessee Central Super Fall Foliage Trip to standing stone festival. The Chapter will pay the first class fare for members in good standing (paid 2012 dues). You have to make your reservation through Tom Doherty with a refundable $25 deposit. You will get your $25 back when you show up on the 6 th. RESERVATIONS MUST BE MADE BY August 5. If you wish to take guests with you we will make their reservation at the group rate of $62 at the same time, you must include their fare plus your $25 refundable deposit when making your reservation. Members are responsible for their own transportation to and from Nashville as well as lodging in Nashville. We need a minimum of 16 people to get the group rate. The train boards at 7:30 A.M., depart at 8 A.M. and will return to Nashville between 6 & 7 P.M. Any questions call Tom Doherty @ (901) 754-1674 Mail deposits/reservations to: Tom Doherty 2235 Coachmans Dr Central Station Microwave Tower Germantown, TN 38138-4111 Make checks payable to NRHS-Memphis Chapter.
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View From the Top By Tom Parker Several weeks ago while scouting out a location for the antennae for the ATCS Monitor server that Don Weis has given permission to be placed in his office, I was given access to the roof of Central Station.
Cover of the May 1967 Railway Age magazine featuring the IC's new microwave communication system. A reprint is on line at : http://illinois-central.net/Tom%27s %20Closet/RailwayAgeReprint.pdf The most prominent feature on the roof is the microwave tower installed by the Illinois Central Railroad about 1967. It was installed when the railroad converted its 19th century telegraph and phone system to a modern (at the time) microwave system while at the same time replacing the teletype communication system that was prevalent over most of the railroad with a
IBM punch card based system. About 1983 an office building was constructed at Johnston Yard to consolidate the yard, freight and division offices. A new microwave tower was built at Johnston Yard at the same time and Central Station was vacated, leaving the communications equipment on the roof abandoned.
All the antennae are disconnected. The dish antenna on the left is a Sprint antenna. It was probably used by the Cotton Belt which shared facilities with the IC. Sprint was originally an SP subsidiary.
View of Broadway from the roof. Great place for a web cam!
The infamous "S" curve into the station and the Hernando DeSoto Bridge
Downtown Memphis
A Railroad Vacation part I by Tom Doherty Have you ever dreamed of taking a vacation that just centered on trains? There are a few options to accomplish this; you could take Amtrak intercity trains for your travel, maybe linking several routes to see the countryside by rail. Or you could concentrate on a particular area with several tourist lines. Finally you could combine both for the ultimate rail vacation. A recent family wedding event took us to the Bay area of northern California and provided an opportunity to do option two; concentrate on several tourist lines. After our wedding activities we headed to the southwest to ride three railroads. The Grand Canyon, Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge, and lastly the Cumbres and Toltec. I’d ridden the D&SNG before but my wife hadn’t and I knew she’d enjoy the scenery. For added adventure we did this in seven days. We started off on day one by flying from San Francisco to Phoenix. After picking up the rental car it was off to Williams, AZ (about 3 hrs.) to check into the Grand Canyon RR Hotel. The next morning we took the train to the Grand Canyon and a stay at the Maswik Lodge. The following morning after exploring more of the Grand Canyon it was the afternoon train back to Williams; back in the car and over to Flagstaff for the night (about 30 min.). Early the next morning we headed to Durango, CO (about 7 hrs.) via highway US 160 through the Navajo Reservation. This is pretty desolate country where you actually look for road signs; doesn’t matter what just something to break the monotony . Arriving in Durango we had the next day off to catch up. Then it was the D&SNG up to Silverton and back. On our return to Durango, back in the car and we headed for Chama, NM (only a 2+30 hrs. drive). We got to Chama a little before nine, checked into the B&B for the next day’s ride. We rode the C&T to Antonio, CO and took the bus back to Chama. That night we drove to Farmington, NM (about 3 hrs.) and on the next day was the drive back to Phoenix (about 8 hr.). Stayed overnight and flew home. That’s the brief itinerary; I’ll give more details as I write about each train trip. This was a hectic pace but very doable. I’m calling this article “part I” be-
cause I plan on writing a separate article for each train segment. That means this month will be about the Grand Canyon RR. The Grand Canyon Railway1
American ingenuity was hard at work in the form of the railroads, being built and tying the nation together. The main line west was built from Chicago to Los Angeles and it passed through Williams, Arizona. Grand Canyon Railway made its first journey to the Grand Canyon on September 17, 1901. Notable passengers to ride the Grand Canyon Railway include Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, William Howard Taft, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Clark Gable, Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Warren Buffet, and Bill Gates. The Railroad was originally built to transport ore in the Wild West from the Anita mines, 45 miles north of Williams in the late 1800s. Buckey O'Neill, sheriff of Yavapi County, mayor of Prescott, prospector, promoter and later one of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, realized money could be made in the mines. He traveled east to gain the support and investment. O'Neill gained the support of Thomas Lombard from the investment firm of Lombard, Goode and Company in New York. Together they entered conversations with the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad. To help gain the interest of the Santa Fe, O'Neill sent ore samples of gold saying he had mined the samples from the Grand Canyon. In the same letter, however, O'Neill 1
Grand Canyon Railway web site www.thetrain.com.
also recognized the potential for tourism so he spoke to the natural beauty of the region and the canyon. O'Neill continued to flirt with the Santa Fe through the years seeking their investment. He also tried to get local investors, which he did, and in 1897 the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon Railroad Company was incorporated. Development of the tracks north from Williams began. O'Neill would not see its completion. He left to fight in the Spanish American War behind Colonel Theodore Roosevelt where he died in 1898. The railroad changed management and consolidated numerous times in the early year. Finally, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway took over and completed the track to Grand Canyon in 1901. The company could make a return on its investment through tourism because the lure of ore and mining proved to be unsustainable. The $3.95 train ride would replace the $15.00 eight-hour stagecoach ride from Flagstaff, allowing visitors to gaze upon what Teddy Roosevelt said "every American should see." The 65 miles of track the iron horse traveled became the lifeline to Grand Canyon. All supplies used in the construction of Grand Canyon Village came to Northern Arizona aboard the train. The train also brought all water to the Grand Canyon until 1926.Supplies were not the only things carried in trains. Ranching and lumber were the primary industries of the early 1900s. Ranchers and lumberjacks contracted with the Grand Canyon Railway to transport their stock. The Railway shared the countryside with its neighbors forming a unique bond. Cowboys, lumberjacks and shepherds alike felt a little better and closer to civilization just being able to hear the train or see its lights off in the distance. Grand Canyon Railway stopped service to Grand Canyon in 1968 after ridership declined due to the rise in popularity of automobile travel. The Interstate highway system had been completed and people fell in love with "the road trip." The train had been a source of regional pride, a symbol of man's spirit of conquest and a sense of harmony with nature. Interstate highways were built paralleling the railroad, and silently replaced virgin landscapes privileged only to the train with billboards and gas stations.
The Railway was reopened for passenger service on September 17, 1989 by entrepreneurs Max and Thelma Biegert, eighty-eight years to the day of the first passenger train to the Grand Canyon. “Bringing the Grand Canyon line back to life really came down to the eleventh hour," explained then Williams Marshal John Moore. "As Grand Canyon Railway was working on getting the final paper-work complete, a corporation which made a failed attempt to restore the Grand Canyon line, had begun tearing it up for salvage materials. If it hadn't been for Grand Canyon Railway, train service to the Grand Canyon would have been permanently lost."
In 1989, Grand Canyon Railway put a stop to the salvage work and began a detailed restoration process. The decaying tracks were rebuilt; the historic depots at both ends of the line were restored, and after 21 years passenger service once again returned to Grand Canyon National Park. Max Biegert and his wife Thelma brought an important piece of Arizona history back to life. We have them to thank for the opportunity to travel just as those first passengers did in 1901 to the canyon so appropriately named Grand," said Railroad Historian Al Richmond. Today, Grand Canyon Railway provides a historic and fun journey to the canyon with the help of authentic western characters who bring the Old West to life. Moreover, the train whose fate seemed sealed when it was shut down due to the popularity
of automobiles is now responsible for keeping approximately 50,000 cars outside of the national treasure.
ted its main steamer (4960) to burn waste vegetable oil! Part of the RR’s “green” program. If you should happen to ride a steam special this will help explain the cravings for French fries. The trip to the canyon takes a little under three hours and is over fairly flat terrain. The depot at the canyon is another "back-in" operation. As you near
That’s a little history of the RR now for our adventure. Like most tourist lines there are several classes of service available and we opted for the Dome (Observation) Car service. We also purchased an inclusive package that included the train travel, pre-trip stay in the Grand Canyon Hotel, one night at the Maswik Lodge at the Canyon, and diner the first night and breakfast the day of travel to the park. There are all kinds of variations that you can construct to fit your travel desires. If you don’t find the combinations you want call and they’ll price it out for you. Ours was one of their standard packages. The GC Hotel is large and clean and has the expected amenities. Think early Holiday Inn. The included diner is a buffet style meal that will fill you up. The next morning, the day of train travel, for those of us staying at the canyon bring your suitcases to the lobby early. They’ll be transported by truck and you’ll see them again in your room at the Maswik Lodge. After the buffet style breakfast, with cook to order eggs, you can head to the Wild West shootout near the loading platform. Or you can do as I did, skip the shoot-out (where the good guys win) and watch them spot the train for loading. The train is backed in to the platform; our consist was 16 cars. The GC RR has a variety of diesels today we had two FPH40’s on the head end. The railroad does run steam but only on special events. It has conver-
the end of your journey the train is turned on a wye prior to backing into the station. The tail of the wye is large enough to accommodate the entire train; however should the train be very large it will be split on the approach to the wye and backed-in in sections. There are four station tracks that can be used. Each segment can be pulled and reattached to the other segments for departure. Once backed into the station the train is split to create a passage for the passengers to cross over to the tour buses. Five million people visit the park each year and of that the railroad hauls 325K to the park. The Canyon is an overwhelming experience, and nothing can prepare a visitor for the sight. The Grand Canyon is a massive canyon carved over several million years by the Colorado River. Grand Canyon National Park boasts an elevation change of nearly 7,000 feet from Point Imperial to nearly 2,000 at Lake Mead. The canyon itself is, from rim to river over a mile deep. In spots the rock layers exposed in the canyon display over two billion years of geologic history. The park was founded as Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908 by President Theodore
Roosevelt, and became a national park in 1919. Today the park contains over 1.2 million acres, slightly less than the entire state of Delaware. A picture may be worth a thousand words but nothing except a personal visit can give the Grand Canyon the proper perspective!
For the return trip leave your baggage in the hotel room and it will be picked up and transported back to Williams. If you’re spending the return night at the GC RR Hotel it will be delivered to your room; if not it is available for pick up on the train station platform on arrival. You’ll board the train around 3 P.M. for a 3:30 departure. The train ride back was pleasant and included snacks and beverages. Just our luck a little outside Williams, the train was held up by outlaws. Fate smiled on us as just than the local sheriff came along and chased the bad guys off. All included in the price of a train ticket. On arrival at Williams the train pulls into the station. Once unloaded the train will be turned on a wye and serviced for the next day’s journey. There isn’t a turn table; just a wye at each end. The first leg of our version the triple crown was over and we headed to Flagstaff for the night. We could’ve opted to stay at the GC RR Hotel but this cut a little off the next day’s drive time. Next month on to the second leg; Durango.
NS Heritage Unit Family Portrait By Terry Redeker On July 3 & 4 Norfolk Southern and the North Carolina Transportation Museum (NCTM) held a special event at their roundhouse in Spencer North Carolina to celebrate the railroads 30th Anniversary. NS gathered all 20 of their recently released GE ES44AC and EMD SD70Ace locomotives painted in Heritage paint schemes to honor many of the railroads that make up today’s Norfolk Southern. All 20 of the units were gathered around the roundhouse for group photos as well as a parade of all of the units around the grounds of NCTM for individual photo opportunities. A night photo session was also available each night of the event. Over 4000 tickets were sold for the 2 day event of which I was one. I attended the event on Tuesday July 3rd which included speeches by Jim Wrinn (Editor of Trains Magazine), Andrew Fletcher (Artist who designed the paint schemes and suggested the idea to NS), and Wick Moreman (President & CEO of NS). The crowds were thick but most of the fans worked with each other to make sure everyone got their shots. The best shots were in the afternoon when the Sun was in the western sky, the organizers even set up bleachers and an elevated platform to help photographers get their shots. Amtrak also sent one of their 40th Anniversary engines #156 to the event along with an exhibit train. The exhibit train made for a great place to escape the 100+ degree temperatures outside. My group and I had a great time at the event and were able to get nice shots of all 20 units as well as NS 1030 which had its numberboards replaced with 1982 & 2012 to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Norfolk Southern. This was also my first visit to NCTM and I enjoyed viewing the rest of their great collection, many of the items which were posed with the new modern equipment during the event. To make things more interesting we took a round a bout way back to Memphis through NC, SC, GA, and then TN catching a dozen or so shortlines that I have always wanted to visit like the Aberdeen Carolina & Western, Aberdeen & Rockfish, Pee Dee River, Lancaster & Chester and more. Hats off to Norfolk Southern for painting these units to honor their past and for arranging to have all of these units in one place for this once in a lifetime railfan event. Very well done both NS & NCTM!!! rd
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CABOOSE
Grand Canyon Railroad “Williams Flyer” Drumhead Meeting Schedule August 9, 2012 (Dino's – 645 N. McLean) Dinner at 6:00 pm September 13, 2012 October 9, 2012 November 13, 2012 December 6, 2012 September – December meetings will be held at the Germantown Public Library 7-9 pm. 1925 Exeter Road Germantown, TN 38138
Contact the Editor Tom Parker 3012 Wood Thrush Drive Memphis, TN 38134 tscottparker@gmail.com