ACL/SAL Any fans left?

05 June 2007

Good to have you on board Seaboard.

I am Larry at SCRS up in Mauldin (Greenville area), SC. I have been in Conyers and Winder, Ga. many times.

I also model the SAL on the SCRS, however ACL and Southern are also well represented. The Silver Comet train is one of the main passenger trains rolling across the SCRS.

Larry @ SCRS

 

Hi Larry, Nice to meet you. Thanks btw. good to be here.

Iv'e heard of the SCRS club before. I like those Silver Comet passenger trains. I have one of my own. I like Orange Blossom Special to. The Southern and ACL are some good road's to. I haven't been up at the Mauldin area but Iv'e been close.

Dave Jones - I'm not sure the line your thinking about Is the one through Conyers, As I believe is further North, not far from Conyers, Right above it in Gwinnett. Maybe a few minutes drive or so away. There I believe it hooks up with the line at some point. The line in Conyers, Was part of the Georgia Railroad, and I was also told it was a multi road line, used mainly by Central Of Georgia and the Georgia Railroad Company. It was an axcess line to the cotton mills in the area, and as well as a passenger line. The line hooks up with the COG line in Covington and Porterdale. A few other roads used the line. SAL used it as a freight line.

I Liked the Passenger service SAL had so I researched on it for almost 2 1/2 years to get all the info needed for it. Savannah being a way point for passenger activity is probably a good start on what i could do as far as my layout goes. I do like there freight units to. I always thought the SDP35 and the Baldwin Centipede were some very unique units.

 

Born and bred in the land of the former Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast I was most interested in Larry Goolsby's book by that name. Larry asked if I could relate any stories about the AB&C but I could not, being only age 9 when it became a fallen flag. I only remember train watching and occasionally riding a two or three car train. Never knew about the road's role in pulling the Dixie Route trains as they made their way from Chicago to Florida. Those trains never found their way to Manchester or Warm Springs.

My remembrance of the successor ACL is even dimmer. By then I had become interested in things less cerebral and the diesels of ACL never inspired the interest of AB&C steam.

Ben

 

Just a reminder to ACL and SAL fans - forty years and a few days ago, SCL was formed from both roads, July 1, 1967. Not one of my fondly remembered dates.

 

Heck yes, there are still plenty of fans of the Seaboard Air Line...

And speaking of the Seaboard I am here to announce that WrigtTRAK railroad models will be releasing a Seaboard Air Line 5600 series caboose in cast urethane shortly. These will be craftsmen style kits that require assembly, painting and decaling. The kits feature one piece bodies with seperate underframes, roofs and cupola. There is no firm prices yet but expect them to be in 54.00 to 55.00 or so range. Visit www.wrighttrak.com for progress on these cars and to check out their other products.

Also, Speedwitch Media is set to release Seaboard Air Line B3-5 boxcars later this fall. They also have several other SAL products in the developmental stages as well. www.speedwitch.com

Intermountain is showing, on their new releases page, a Seaboard silver PS1 boxcar. I don't know if these will be kits or assembled models. A bit of checking and one could come up with the answer to that. www.intermountain-railway.com

Denis Blake

 

Denis - Well thanks, these announcements along with Atlas's release of the C-420 in S.A.L. will keep my modelling budget in the red for quite some time.

 

I can't help but be a fan of the SAL. My dad was an employee of the SAL so I grew up riding the passenger rails of the Seaboard from Miami, FL to Hamlet, NC and Miami, FL to West Lake Wales, FL.

I used to play in the roundhouse of the old Gary shops in Tampa, FL. Those days are long gone (sad face).