Steam & Excursion > SOU 630 & 722 - moving between Alexandria and Irondale

Rather than further pollute Steve's 630 thread with off-topic musings . . .

Trying to fill in a couple of gaps on 630 and 722's wanderings. First, 630:

In February 1976, 630 was dispatched from Irondale to Atlanta to operate a trip to Macon (2/28/1976). It experienced running gear problems and was towed back to Irondale rods down. It returned to service with a May 1 break-in trip, then on May 12-13, it operated to Charlotte to meet up with 4501 for the summer trips out of Alexandria.

630 evidently didn't leave Alexandria again until after August 28, 1977. At some point it returned to Irondale - does anyone know when? 4501 left Alexandria around Sept. 21, arriving in Irondale on Sept. 27 (including a side trip to Charleston), but there's no indication 630 was along on this trip.

Next: the following entries appear in Jim Bistline's records:

Dec. 6 1977 Atlanta-Greenville OW 722
Dec. 7 1977 Greenville-Salisbury OW 722
Dec. 8 1977 Salisbury-Monroe OW 722
Dec. 9 1977 Monroe-Alexandria OW 722

These trips don't show up in any contemporary listing of Southern's schedules (TIES, R&R, Trains). There's no reference to a return to Irondale. 722's next appearance on the schedule is August 6, 1978, running out of Alexandria.

In theory, the December trip makes sense - sending 722 up to Alexandria to replace 630. And indeed, 722 did remain based in Alexandria until September 1979, when it doubleheaded (light) to Irondale with 2839.

The problem is, there are photos that show 722 in Birmingham in April 1978, doubleheading with T&P 610.

I would be tempted to put the December dates down to a cancelled plan, but for a single photo, ID no. 286547 at that other photo posting site.

The only other dates 722 passed through Salisbury are:

10 / 9, 10 / 1971 (w/750)
9 / 27, 28 / 1979 (w/2839)
3 / 19, 20 / 1980 (light engine)
9 /1, 2/ 1980 (w/train)

Only one of which (March 1980) seems to be a possible fit with the clothes shown in the photo.

Does anyone have any insight on these phantom trips in December 1977, or whenever they actually happened? Was the April 1978 doubleheader with 610 the beginning of 722's trip to Alexandria?

JAC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/11 12:58 by johnacraft.

?I can't shed much light on 722's wanderings, but I was ab;e to find out a few things. I worked in Washington, DC from March 1977 to mid-1981. From late 1978 through mide 1980, I had an office with a few of the Conrail tracks south of Union Station, at L'Enfant Plaza.

I'm guessing 722 spent 1978 based in Alexandria. I have memories of a double-headed trip to Front Royal in 1977 or 1978 with 630 and 722, as I posted on the other thread. Sometime in early 1979, I and a co-worker watched 722 move north past our building on a light engine move, apparently headed to the Wilmington and Northern, where it spent the summer running trips (none of which I rode). It then presumably either deadheaded or ran trips in service back to Irondale.

You can find photos of 722 on the W&N. It appears to have been a trade for 2839, which began operating on Southern in April 1979 (again, from the other thread).

That's all I've been able to find out. I would love to hear from anyone (collector, museum) who has a set of Jim Bistline's "Southern Steam Schedule" issues from the 1970s. It would be great fun to reconstruct the various movements of 630, 722, 4501, and 2839 during those years.

shoretower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would love to hear from anyone (collector, museum) who
> has a set of Jim Bistline's "Southern Steam
> Schedule" issues from the 1970s. It would be
> great fun to reconstruct the various movements of
> 630, 722, 4501, and 2839 during those years.

I can tell you from personal experience that it's a hair-pulling exercise.

Back in 1991, TRAINS ran an article on the 25th anniversary of the SOU/NS steam program. Dave Ingles corresponded with several of us trying to resolve discrepancies which resulted in the map that ran with that article. That more or less began my interest / quest / obsession of filling in all the gaps.

In the late 1990s, when Jim Wrinn started writing "Steam's Camelot," he got as much written information as he could from Jim Bistline and compiled a 'master list.' By that time I had compiled everything I had into a database, and imported Jim's list into it. There were several months of sanity checking, the result of which is the trip list in the back of that book.

Since then, as I see photos or videos posted online, I use them as a sanity check, and continue to find corrections.

The results to date are online, and it's relatively easy to peruse if you have a Google Account (or can otherwise subscribe to a public calendar). Instructions on how to access it are here: http://steamcentral.com/2010/03/11/schedules-archive/

JAC

---

Thanks for compiling/building that database John, it really helps in ID'ing runs where slides weren't labeled. You know of whom I speak.

I have more slides scanned of both those engines but not from '77.

chico
http://www.heartlandrails.com

chico Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for compiling/building that database John,
> it really helps in ID'ing runs where slides
> weren't labeled. You know of whom I speak.
>
> I have more slides scanned of both those engines
> but not from '77.

Thanks. The hunt has been fun, and the hair always grows back - just wish it didn't come in grey ;)

JAC

Thanks very much! I had hoped someone would undertake this task. I wasn't nearly as diligent as I should have been in my recordkeeping more than 30 years ago. It will be nice to have something against which to check my memories.

Well, I chnecked out the late 1970s, a time when I rode a lot of Southern steam trips. Just a few that were missing:

1) Summer 1976 (June, I think) I rode Alexandria to Front Royal behind,as I recall, 4501. Not on calendar.

2) Rode a Richmond -0- Raleigh one way in 1978 via Keysville. Not on schedule.

3) Rode Raleigh to New Bern and terurn, sumer 1978. Not on schedule.

4) One I remember for sure -- Independence Limited 1978, Louisville, KY to Greensboro, NC behind 2839 via the Clinchfield, not on the schedule.

So there is much work to be done. But thaks again for the effort. The Warrenton trip I remember was in March 1979 behind 722, not March 1978 behind 630.

shoretower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1) Summer 1976 (June, I think) I rode Alexandria
> to Front Royal behind,as I recall, 4501. Not on
> calendar.

I see four Front Royal trips in June, three in July.


> 2) Rode a Richmond -0- Raleigh one way in 1978 via
> Keysville. Not on schedule.
>
> 3) Rode Raleigh to New Bern and terurn, sumer
> 1978. Not on schedule.
>
> 4) One I remember for sure -- Independence Limited
> 1978, Louisville, KY to Greensboro, NC behind 2839
> via the Clinchfield, not on the schedule.

You may recall from the earlier thread that 2839 did not run on the Southern until 1979. The trip you're referring to occurred in July 1979. The 1978 Independence Limited also operated Lexington to Greensboro (not Louisville), but was hauled by T&P 610 and ran via Asheville.

2) and 3) probably refer to the August 1980 trips hauled by 722.

JAC



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/11 09:50 by johnacraft.