Railroaders' Nostalgia > My Dumb Luck: the AFT years 48

 
48 Jacksonville, FLA. Nov. 20-23/ Tallahassee, FLA. Nov. 26-28

Finally Florida.

The 48th state for the AFT (my 28th with the train). We left Savannah at 9 a.m., so it was a rare all-daylight move. I don't know why this was, probably for the PR value (but maybe because of a switch job starting up late?) The Florida state line is a bridge and we paused on it so the locomotive crew could launch a few bottle rockets or something. (Florida is an island? Huh. I seem to remember California was an island once.) Many of the staff had rarely, if ever, ridden the train before so they made up for it on these last runs. There was lots of waving back and forth to a motorcade that included other staff members who'd taken chase.
BTW: Nearly all this old Seaboard Air Line route is gone now – does anyone know when this was pulled?

Photo 1. Crossing over to the Isle of Florida.

We arrived at the Jacksonville site in the early afternoon, and for once set up was decidedly laid back – there would be no attempt to open the train that evening. Although we had torn the train down, moved it 125 miles, and set it up again in less than 24 hours – it felt like a day off!
We were out at some sort of industrial site south of Jacksonville itself. (In fact, I never saw Jacksonville itself.) The predominant business in the park was Budweiser, and bless their hearts: Bud rolled out the red carpet. I seem to remember waking up in the back of a pick up truck with several others late that night. I think I made it from the truck to my bed. Others probably didn't.

The train was in an open field and lit at night so that it could be seen from a nearby roadway. I borrowed someone’s tripod and took the night shots you see below. They represent a lot of fooling around at about 2 a.m. I moved the lights around quite a bit – I think they were all on the opposite side when I started (the silhouette shot). The engine crew had been working on stay bolts etc., at the time, and if you look closely you can see that I'd leaned up several of the panels on the boiler, but they're not really fastened down. Also, there are some tanks for the welder alongside the tender that I covered with a sleeping bag. Oh, and don't let anyone tell you Florida never gets cold. IT GETS DAMN COLD!

Photo 2. Jacksonville.
Photo 3. Backlit
Photo 4. I was dragging lights all over – I was out there for about two hours!
Photo 5. One more.

A last little story from Jacksonville – late one afternoon Martha from security came and found me, and asked if I could helper with the courtesy loaner car she'd been driving. She'd gotten it “stuck,” and had hoped maybe I'd help her “unstick” it?

Photo 6. Stuck? Jeez Martha, you think!

Next up was Tallahassee. I rather liked Tallahassee. We were there for Thanksgiving and made the most of it. The train was closed for the day, the first day off since New Year’s Day back in Santa Barbara (just before I'd started). There was a baseball diamond near the train (we were on the Florida State University campus) and the Army vs. Security, the last of several games held whenever there was a convenient field. A traditional turkey dinner was served up after everyone gathered 'round the 205 car for a few parting words from the Head Chef John “Mad Dog” Manning (head of security). Tallahassee was John's last stop with the AFT. (I think this was related to the cost cutting a few weeks before in Charlotte. My boss, Greg, was already gone.) It was a nice, though somewhat melancholy, evening.

Photo 7. On the road to Tallahassee.
Photo 8. John's farewell speech.
Photo 9. John's audience (the 40 Car was about a car length behind the 205 where he was speaking). There are a few TO members here: Tom (towazy) on the roof, in the center with brown boots. Craig (SP3204) far right, center row of those on the end of the car. Dale (SP5312) on the ground facing the camera. That might be Pop, Doyle's dad, just half in the frame on the lower right. He was around off and on, and it would make sense he'd be around for Thanksgiving.

The next day a bunch of us got a hold of a couple of courtesy cars and went just out of town to the Gulf Coast. We found a place foolish enough to rent us several canoes. We shoved off into a rainy dubious looking swamp in search of snakes 'n gators.

Thank God – we found neither.

Photo 10. Walking on the Gulf shore. Long John (now in security), Lynn (guest host), and Dave (security).
Photo 11. My oar-mate was Lynn (“Toonie”). Nice enough on dry land – not to be trusted on the water.

SR Bush
Dutch Flat



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/14 17:29 by BoilingMan.

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> We were out at a sort of industrial site south of
> Jacksonville itself. (in fact, I never saw
> Jacksonville itself) The predominate business in
> the park was Budweiser and bless their hearts: Bud
> rolled out the red carpet. I seem to remember
> waking up in the back of a pick up truck with
> several others late that night. I think I made it
> from the truck to my bed. Others probably didn't.


I am not sure of where the train was spotted.But
the brewery (Bud plant)was north of town across
the river.It is on the exSAL line so that is probably
where you were.That line is severed south of Savannah
(and north of Savannah is some places)at Riceboro
to Kingsland.Don't know when it was removed.

I am sure you did not see much of Jville going to Tally.
The exSAL route would have taken you west and a little
south of downtown.

OK I am waiting for you to get to Sanford.Florida that is.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl

I'm get'n there Joe.

If you look at the maps posted below this tread I've marked where the train displayed in (near) Jacksonville. I don't think I ever left the site while we were there. When we departed for Tallahassee it was about 2am- I was tucked in bed back in the 201 Car.
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> BTW: Nearly all this old Seaboard Air Line route
> is gone now – does anyone know when this was
> pulled?

The last trains run in October 1985 and the majority was removed in 1986. The far southern end is still intact (including the bridge to Isle Florida pictured above), it is operated by First Coast Railroad (a Gennesse & Wyoming operation) and CSX.

Cool- thanks!
SR

One or two "fables" to add to your narrative,which is fascinating btw. We did in fact have a welcome party at the Bud brewery,and the waking in the back of a pickup sounds like a fitting ending! I remember going to the party,not much in between,and the return. Many of us had been cut off by the brewery staff.The brewery itself was just across the street from the site,not far at all as I remember.Mark,his brother Paul,John Manning and I did not think the "party" should end so early! Who knows what time it really was!John was driving the "crew" back to the train in one of the courtesy cars,maybe even the one Martha had her adventure in later on. I remember the car having a sun roof,well,it was Florida! While John drove us back,the "three amigos" made use of that sun roof to announce our departure from Bud and otherwise let everyone within ear shot know the AFT was in town! Hanging out the sun roof,we made it back to the train,not quietly,but no more beer...but wait! John decided that since it was his last stop,he would open the pie car for us.He had the keys to EVERYTHING,including the cooler in the pie car that contained cases of Budweisers finest and freshist brew donated by the King of Beers.We decided to have a small,impromtu going away party with John acting as bar tender behind the counter.I don't remember how long it lasted,but it stuck in my mind that John became one of us for at least that period of time,just 4 guys hanging around,drinking,talking about the good times,and the bad and the future.

The second Jacksonville story involves my cab ride.I was invited to ride the first leg of the trip out of Jacksonville. I was in the cab as we were switching the train into order. I remember the cab being a bit crowded at the time,so I decided,or possibly was even told, to climb up on the tender until it cleared out some.The 4449 has two doors on the cab that swing open to allow access to the tender.I opened the doors and climbed up and was sitting on the tender with my legs hanging into the cab,content.Now,I did not know,or even consider,the fact that those NEEDED to be opened fully and latched to back of the cab. I just lft them partially open,at a 90 degree angle to the cab,hanging over the tender. MISTAKE! As we started to move on the uneven industrial trackage,the engine leaned one way,the tender another! Uh Oh! Just as I realized what was about to happen,the tender rose up and popped one of the doors off one of the hinge welds! Shit!I quickly closed the other before more damage was done,then when the the engine leaned in the opposite direction,I closed and latched the broken door. Now what? If I sat something,I will be thrown off the engine no doubt!I kept mum until we reached the place where I was to detrain,then I told Doyle. He yelled at me!...loud! I felt horrible...was afraid to go near the 4449 for weeks after.Doyle used to say jokingly,at least I thing it was jokingly,hoping it was!,that I was the one who broke his engine! yeah,that made me feel better!

Here Tom, I'll illustrate your story for the viewers at home.
(This is coming into Birmingham with Dave in the hatch where you were sitting, and another Dave at the cab door. We had no shortage of Daves on the AFT)
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/14 12:13 by BoilingMan.

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SR...that spot was the best ride on the '49. A few times when the cab wasn't packed, and I wasn't firing I would ride there! You could look down on the interaction between Doyle and the fireman which was cool; but even better you could look across the skyline casing and watch and listen to to that beautiful stack talk and whistle announce her presence...Craig

Indeed! And the skyline caseing works remarkable well, keeping one coiffed and looking good!
Of course the elephant-in-the-room is '84, but these were days of innocence...
SR

Hmmm, time and dates are getting away from me! Now to some degree my reminisces are falling out of sequence. Oh well, it’s still fun to recall these times…
While in Savannah I was asked to do evening engine watch a couple of times. This was pretty relaxing stuff – keep a small spot fire going when required and generally keep an eye on things. That is, keep it hot and keep water in it.  There were lots of little time killing tasks to keep one busy, cleaning, wiping down and polishing the brightwork. Now and again folks would wander over to look at and admire the locomotive. With that came the questions.

“Is this a real steam engine?” 
“Yes it is.”

“Where does the coal go?” 
“This locomotive burns oil.”

“Can you blow the horn?”
This always made me cringe – okay, it does have a horn, but I suspect they meant whistle…
“No I can’t, sorry. It may frighten people.”

“Is this really a steam engine?” 
“Yes it is.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be painted black?”

Thanks goodness Thomas hadn’t been dreamed of yet.

A judicious twist of the cab heat valve beneath the seat with the resultant blast of exhaust steam below would sometimes keep the overly talkative a safe distance away. Alright, in retrospect, it wasn’t the nicest thing to do. So, 39 years later, I apologize.

However, some visitors were a joy to have around. Early one evening I was on the ground, working around the locomotive when two older gentlemen approached and asked if they might wander around and look at the 4449. I urged them to make themselves at home and if they had any questions, I’d try to answer.  They thanked me and went on examining the 49. After some time and a few questions, I asked them if they’d like to go up into the cab.
“Would that be possible? Yes, that would be wonderful!”

I don’t recall who was up in the cab at the time, but these two gents went up and were there for 10 or 15 minutes, looking and talking. When climbed down, they stopped by to shake my hand and thank me before departing. Really nice people, I thought, true Southern gentlemen.
The next afternoon one of the two men that I had spoken to the previous evening approached me.

“Mr. Claytor asked me to thank you and the others on the locomotive for the kindness and hospitality you extended to us last evening, it was most appreciated.”

Wow, a true Southern gentleman in the form of railroad nobility.

Quite possibly the Holy Grail for anybody who loves steam is a cab ride. My first opportunity was presented to me on the daytime run between Savannah and Jacksonville. As Tom and Craig stated, the doorway between the rear of the cab and the top of the tender was THE place to ride. The sights and sounds were almost beyond description. In addition to being the best seat in the house, it kept you out of the way of people who had work to do down there! Rolling through the coastal lowlands, we were amazed to see dozens of people waiting at every dirt road crossing for a glimpse of the American Freedom Train. Folks were waving and cheering as we passed, not knowing that they’d probably never see anything like it again.

I recall that it was raining when we arrived in Jacksonville. Crummy weather or not, there was work to do. I do know that we did a boiler wash and staybolts while there. At some point we separated the locomotive and tender to drop and inspect the drawbar. I can’t say with 100% certainty that it happened in J’Ville or a week or two earlier.

Oh yes, the party at the Budweiser refinery, and I don’t even like Bud, but free is free... As mentioned, some number of us rode to Budville in the crew truck. On the return, many were stacked in the bed of the truck like well soaked firewood.

On my last night with the train, I took advantage of Boilingman’s efforts setting and rearranging lights for his photographs and took a few of my own. I didn’t stay up into the wee hours as he did, as we had a plane to catch later that morning.

It was tough to leave knowing that I was seeing the train for the last time. Happily, I was able to rejoin the 49 crew for a portion of the Transcontinental Excursion the following year. In addition I’ve managed to maintain friendships from those days.

I continue to be in awe of this AFT thread series, Boiling man. Thank you so much for this amazing coverage. You are simply writing a book with this thread......and the amount and quality of your recollection and photos is remarkable.....the picture just above of AFT4449 is one of the best ever taken IMHO.

Here are a few pics I took of the Talahassee site.As Steve said,we were on the FSU campus,right next to the football stadium. As can be seen seen from these pics,things have changed drasticly in the FSU football stadium.

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A couple more of Tallahassee...

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towazy Wrote:
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> A couple more of Tallahassee...

THANK YOU for posting these, I've bene looking for shots from the Tallahassee display site for the better part of 20 years now. I saw the train there right before my 7th birthday and in all this time, have never seen any photos until just now.
In fact, I signed on to TO just to see these shots, as it was that important to me.
If you have any more, I'd love to see them!