ATLANTIC COAST LINE/SEABOARD AIR LINE IN AND AROUND CHARLESTON, SC

[Dave Jones]

Chestatee - It apparently no longer takes one direct to the article. I just tried it and the link I gave will take you to the VQR page and if you'll look on the line where ir reads "magazine," "subscription." etc. and type in the words 'boll weevil' it'll take you directly to a series of articles including Mr. Rubins.

[falcon468]

After many months away from this site, I decided to drop in and catch up. I am floored with the map that was submitted by SCRS (I believe) and have spent the last hour on the 1957 view, I found it all, using Stono Park Elementary as the point of reference. My familly and I moved to Cross Street in the soon to be developed Rotherwood Estates in 1958 such that I could attend Stono Park. As luck would have it, my grandfather, after many years with the ACL, was the conductor on the Croughan Line. As previously stated, when we moved in, we would often see his train as it went back and forth from Albermarle Point to Jericho. The train would work a siding at Wapoo Road and we would "chat" with him while the crew worked. I remember it as if were yesterday. This has been a wonderful experience, participating in this ongoing conversation, and at age 59, it is a treat to see where I grew up as well. I have "flown" all over the area from my house to Hwy 17, the SAL crossing at DuPont and the packing sheds on the west side of the crossing, its just as it was. Thanks.

[Dave Jones]

falcon468 - Welcome back. Yes, I did the 1957 aerial view and the one on "Abandoned Rails" and the only thing I can say is "Ya shoulda been here when it was mostly farmland." I'm still off-balance from the number of houses and people they've managed to stick in that comparatively small area.

[Dave Jones]

Larry @ SCRS - Was just re-reading parts of this thread and ran across your post in re. the SAL F-3s' the SCRS was looking forward to acquiring. Just wondering if you had acquired them, how they run, etc. Same for those GP-7s'.

InterMountain has set delivery for their SAL FTs' back to October while Athearn has advanced delivery of their 4 SAL GP-9s' to October. That'll be a budget buster month! Then, Athearn has announced 3 new numbers for their SAL GP-35s' so I'll end up with 5 of those, well a brace of 3 for fast freights with 2 left over to mix with GP-30s', etc.

Meanwhile my additional inserted 1/3rd of mainline on the Charleston Subdivision finally has all the kinks ironed out. I've started some operation around Local #66, one or two northbound extras (lots of FGEX reefers there) and the northbound "Boll Weevil", #25. My next "big" project is lighting so I can replicate at least part of SALs' northbound fleet at night.

[SCRS]

03 Nov 2011

Hello Dave.

Yes. The F-3 A-B-B-A's and the GP-7 did arrive. They were pressed into freight service almost as soon as they were serviced.

I had two SAL cabs that have been waiting to be coupled onto Seaboard freights for some time. Both are now in operation. One at the rear of a northbound express 'reffer' string pulled by the F-3 A-B-B-A's and the other on a southbound local pulled by the single unit GP-7.

MTH's 2012 V1 catalog has the ACL GP-9's listed - purple, gold and white - to be issued in May 2012. Three will be headed for the Southern Coastline Railway System. ACL cabs are waiting.

Larry @ SCRS

[Dave Jones]

Larry - Good to hear from you.

Well the I-M FT sets have been pushed back to Jan. 2012 so the "October Meltdown" was only partial. Of course during the same month I-M issued 3 different variations of FGEX reefers and the Fox Vally M-53's also arrived. Thanks to I-M and re-painting and decalling some old Train Miniatrure reefers, I'm able to put forth a real good looking perishable express.

As noted in another post, the Genesis GP-9s also arrived. After listening to the shellacking these units took on other forums, I started to have doubts about my order. Close-up photos showed some small variations from the prototype, but then again I understand that all GP-7/9s seem to have some minor faults and so ... glad I did. They match up real nice with my P2K GP-7/9's.

My P2K ACL GP-7s will begin to be used when I start my 16 or 24 hour clock as power for the "night" man on the Terminal RR.

[SCRS]

17 November 2011

Remember these.

The MTH ACL GP-9's - Purple, White and trimed in Gold.

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/20-20203-1

Larry @ SCRS

[Dave Jones]

Larry, sure do. Purple & silver geeps Monday through Friday down the Croghans Branch and then back up the line. Every day during summer vacation or school holidays, normally down about 9:00 a.m. and back up before noon. Always two units.

Until 1957. Then the "black marias" began to show up. By 1960 the purple & silver was (to my best knowledge) just about gone from Geeps.

I got two of these when they were offered by P2K 5-10 years ago, one of which my B2W managed to put on a hardwood floor, Project #9,651.

Needless to say I've "petitioned" just about every model loco manufacturer to make their GP-7s in the "black maria" scheme. Guess I'll hit up Athearn again about their Genesis GP-7. My black & yellow F-2A looks real good m.u.'d with the P&S Geep, a P&S FP-7 would look just as good with a brace of B&Y Geeps.

[Nightauel]

I was very happy when I stumbled into this, so happy in fact that I joined such that I could participate. I too grew up in Charleston and as of this date, I am 56 , and live in Columbia. When I was six, my parents and I moved to a new West of the Ashley neighborhood known as Rotherwood Estates. The neighborhood shared a border with the ACL rail line that ran from Albemarle Point to Jericho (Johns Island), SC, crossing the Folly Rd. and following Hwy. 17 to the south. I always lived West of the Ashley before attending USC.

At the time, my grandfather worked for the ACL and my father was employed in the transportation division of the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company. My grandfather's career with the ACL was lenghty and included a stint in the 1920's as the President of the Brotherhood of Local Trainmen, which took him to Cleveland, OH. He reired in the late 60's. In his last years with the ACL, he was the conductor of the Croughan route of the ACL, better described above and mentioned in this thread. This route left Albemarle Point and headed south through Byrnes Down, Coburg, the Ravenel farm, Harrison acres (a row farm then), Rotherwood, Air Harbor and on south. Upon moving to our new house, we often went down to the tracks and would wave to him as the train passed by (we also put rocks on the tracks). When he had glaucoma, my mom even put in his eye drops for him as the train was working the siding at Wappoo Rd.

As a young boy, I would ride my new red Columbia bike up to the drug store or the Piggly Wiggly located at DuPont Crossing. Here, I often saw the SAL freight trains being led by high hp GP units with a long string of Fruit Grower Express boxcars headed north. This train would leave DuPont crossing and pass through Hwy 61/161 on its way to the Citadel via the Ashley River RR bridge. It would then cross Rutledhe Ave. as it turned north for the run to North Charleston, crossing at the NCHS.

Along the way I was introduced to a man named Sam Appleby, a noted SAL historian, who often visited with my dad (he brought his family as well). On these visits, we always ended up at the ACL station then known as old North station (Mr. Giles, stationmaster) and the new North station (Mr. Drose, stationmaster), now Amtrak. These stations were located at the Hwy 52 viaduct and behind the then Flamingo Drive-In. We watched many a movie while waiting on the various trains that we went to see. Many a day, evening, night, hot or cold found us up at the station. Usually, we were there to see the passenger trains. I can still remember the sloping front of the EMD E6 as it glided into the station with its bell ringing and Mars light shifting all over the place. It was here that I was taught how to read "the boards" (signals) that heralded the arrival of the noth or south bound trains (this followed by the loudspeaker announcement). Sam Appleby died in April 2007; however, most of his work is in the hands of David Salter.

Anyhow, I have some pictures of these outings (if my wife has not tossed them) as well as my fathers notes. One thing that I know I have though are memories of spending quality time with my dad and being around good people. I would love to answer any questions if I could. Thanks.

We would have known each other if you hadn't gone to St. Andrews and weren't a day or two older. My dad, who was a generation older than my mom and a Westerner, was also a big train enthusiast and took me, and later both his grandsons, on many a sight-seeing trip to see the trains. I remember the Magnolia Theater on 17 and when there really was a dairy and cows back behind Byrnes Down. We live out Bees Ferry now and I still hear the trains on a quiet night. I've ridden under the train trestle in a boat at low tide just outside of Hickory Hills and ridden the passenger train from Charleston to Florence, when it was safe for a child to go from her parents' arms at one end to her grandparents' arms at the other. My dad would take us to see trains, but he always talked about a steam engine he saw as a child or young man they called "Big Boy" in the west and said nothing could compare.

The same time your dad was working for WESTVACO in transportation, our neighbor in Ashley Hall Manor was working in the engineering department. Houston Kaiser built our houses, but I know the same cabinet-maker did the kitchens in Ashley Hall Manor and Rotherwood and Sandhurst and Northbridge Terrace and Lenevar and on and on. (I hate to confess how old I was before I realized "Lenevar" was "Ravenel" spelled backwards.) His name was Westbury; the last bridge going over to Folly Beach is named for him. He seemed an old man to me when I was three in 1963, but he was still building cabinets until 1989 when Hugo destroyed his shop, and he died shortly thereafter. The WESTVACO engineer came to run two of their plants in Brazil before he retired to Maryland. I grew up with Mac Rivkin's sons, and when the younger becomes Secretary of the Treasury, I'll be able to say "I knew him when he was four and taught me to play chess." I was twelve. It never occurred to me that the relatively new neighborhood, Croghan's Landing, was named for anything to do with the railroad and it is to my shame that I didn't think it was a loss when they made bike paths where trains used to run. Today they say "If you got it, a truck brought it" but it is at the cost of the railroads.

[Dave Jones]

Nighauel - Knew both Mr. Kaiser (sold him building supplies) and Mr. Westbury, but him tangentially through another friend. I worked at the Magnolia in 1958/59. And I remember St. Andrews Shopping Center before it was built, with Coburg's dairy behind it.

You live on the "new" Bees Ferry road (friends and I refer to it as the "Developers Relief Highway").
The original Bees Ferry ran right up against the ACL right of way on its' eastern side through bottom land/swamp. Knew it real well 'cause my dad would take me with him to gather wild violets to plant in our yard.

Know your iniial inquiry was to Falcon468, but I don't think too many of the posters to this thread pay much attention to it anymore. In any case - welcome.