JULY 2 0 0 9
VOLUME 45
NUMBER 6
THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER
This month’s newsletter is made up almost entirely from information send to us by a group of interesting people who either contacted us through our website or who just happened to be members of our chapter! With this kind of help, putting a newsletter together is a very easy, enjoyable task. We certainly encourage this kind of participation and hope to see more of it in the future. Thanks to Mike Young’s input in last month’s newsletter, we heard from Jim Reaves again. Jim’s photo of the Best Friend appeared in last month’s newsletter. Thanks to Chapter Historian, Pete Stabovitz, for his memories of the Charleston Naval Yards from the days when he was employed on site there. And thanks to Tom Fetters for his continuing contribution to our Chapter. If we ever have a railroad question, we go to Tom first for the answer, knowing pretty well that if he does not know the answer, then the answer can’t be too important! His alert to us of the CMR website has given us a very enjoyable pastime, looking over the many scaled buildings for use with model railroads. If the price tags were below $300 we might be interested in owning some of them, but it’s not too easy for an individual to spend that kind of money on a hobby. And, last but not least, thanks to the City of Aiken for their efforts to bring the circa 1916 136 mile route of the SC Canal and Rail Road alive through their diorama of the entire route. We are anxiously awaiting its completion and presentation for public viewing.
UPDATE ON CHARLESTON AREA MODEL RAILROAD CLUB
The Charleston Area Model Railroad Club has completed the setup of many of their displays at the Citadel Mall. They have the O gauge and HO gauges in place, as well as a small N gauge display, and are actively working toward the completion of the large N gauge display. Thanks to Carl Blum for the donation of his O gauge display to the club. The club has added scenery and model trains to the display and they are planning to transport it to the November Best Friend Model Train Show. The club reports that walk-ins to the display have accounted for several new members and interest is at a high level at the mall. They are finding the need for some guide lines to assure that they do not become the babysitters for mothers with young children and for teens who often wander the malls. What a wonderful opportunity to provide the public with information about model railroading. During a 30 minute visit to the mall, we saw men, women and children wandering in to see what the display was all about. Shouts often rang out … “Don’t touch the train” and … “No, we do not have a public restroom” … anyway, it will be interesting to watch the growing pains and the public awareness as the club embarks on its initial display season.
The Best Friend News is a publication of the Charleston Chapter – National Railway Historical Society.
Membership: Please join us in our effort to preserve transportation history. Established in 1935, NRHS has over 1900 members with more than 170 Chapters. A one year membership is $53.00.
Editor: Tommy Burkhalter
Contributors: Mary Lehr Art Giardino Tom Fetters
E-mail address: bfoc1830@yahoo.com
CHAPTER MEETING
The next meeting of the Charleston Chapter will be on Monday, August 10, 2009 at 7 P.M. in the Daniel Library at The Citadel. Our regular meeting schedule will be back on track beginning with the September meeting on Saturday, September 10, 2009 at 10 A.M. at the Daniel Library. The Citadel will reopen the Daniel library on Saturdays beginning in September. Website: BestFriendofCharleston.org
The CC-NRHS meets the second Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. in The Citadel’s Daniel Library, 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC.
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JULY 2 0 0 9
MEMORIES
Mike Young’s write-up in the June Newsletter about the Freedom Train brought a response that will be of interest to those who were involved with the Freedom Train.
Volume 45 Number 6
FETTERS AND SUMMERVILLE
Tom Fetters wrote that there was a nice diorama of the Summerville RR Station on the website. After checking further into the website he quoted, we found that it is the website of the CMR company that is creating the dioramas for the Aiken Train Project that Don Barnes discussed with our group about a year ago. The detail on these dioramas is very impressive. Reproduced in this newsletter are two photos of the Summerville Station c.1916 and the area around it. These photos have been added to our website as well, since we previously did not have any representation for the Summerville Station for our collection. The photos are more easily viewed by visiting our website and following the link to the Photographs of SC Stations. The photo below is the Summerville station and the last page of the newsletter contains the station and surrounding area.
Jim Reaves wrote: Mike's story brought back some memories…that was not the only role that No 76 played in the visit of the Freedom Train. I started out as chairman of the local Freedom Train Committee but had to step down due to time constraints. We then convinced the GE Turbine Plant (they were in Ladson where Force Protection is now located) to loan us one of their executives and I seconded him for the rest of the event. Someday I will write out the story of using the No 76 to blockade the Freedom Train. In the meantime here is a photo of Capt. Jack and G. Pinckney (Penny) Darby finishing the transformation of the Porter.
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JULY 2 0 0 9
Volume 45 Number 6
THE RAILROAD and THE CHARLESTON NAVAL SHIPYARD
Our Chapter Historian, Pete Stabovitz, worked at the Charleston Navy Yard and he has agreed to do a series of articles about the railroad at the Navy yard. Pete began working at the CNSY in 1988 in the Public Works as the power plant and utilities engineer. Since the power house burned coal and the locomotives brought in the coal, Pete kept an eye on the railroad activities because he was a railfan from an early age. Pete writes: Many of you know that the Narrow Gauge ET&WNC locomotives had swivel couplers, so they could couple to Standard Gauge cars. The couplers at the Charleston Naval Shipyards are hydraulically operated and can move to one side or the other to help with cars on some of their sharp curves. They had some 110', 117' 120' 150' curves, and were having problems so they got these. There is a rack gear at the top and bottom. Note the operating control at the right of the picture near the hand rail.
Here is an interesting story about these couplers and the curves at the Navy Yard. One time they got in a long (60' I think) 6 wheel truck heavy drop center flat car that they had to get to Dry Dock #4. The curve is 159' radius. Well, they had one engine coupled on each end in a push-pull fashion, had a man at each coupler control, and a crew of men walking beside the car with crow bars. They greased the inside of the rail. They started very slowly, went a few inches, a wheel flange started to rise up, they stopped, pushed it back down with crow bars, then went a few inches more. They kept this up, a few inches at a time and finally got the car around the curve, after about 2 hours!
JULY 2 0 0 9
Volume 45 Number 6
Locomotive No 44 Print
The South Carolina Railroad Museum has commissioned a painting by railroad artist, Frank Crowe, of Calhoun GA of Locomotive No. 44. The print of No 44 pulling freight across the Low Country swamp lands on the Hampton & Branchville Railroad is available for a donation of $30 or more toward the restoration fund for the Hampton & Branchville Locomotive No 44. The overall size of the print is 12”x18” (actual print size is 10”x14”). Contact Marty Chaney at 803.261.1144 (marty65@bellsouth.net) or Rufus Timms at 803.445.6751 to order your print. Only 150 prints were commissioned. Checks should be made payable to The South Carolina Railroad Museum with the notation, Locomotive No 44. Donations are tax deductible. Donations may be mailed to: Project 44 PO Box 512 Winnsboro SC 29180 Hampton & Branchville No 44
Steam locomotive No 44 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia PA in January 1927. It was built for the Hampton & Branchville Railroad, a logging railroad at the time, in Hampton (Miley) SC. The locomotive operated in the state of South Carolina exclusively since being purchased by the Hampton and Branchville Railroad. Retired in 1959, it was sold to the Charleston SC Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in June, 1969. It was used by the Charleston Chapter in the 1970 NRHS National Convention held in Charleston. Ownership was transferred over to the South Carolina Railroad Museum on June 10, 1991. Specifications are: Wheel arrangement: 4-6-0 ten wheeler Builder’s number: 59751 Boiler pressure: 180 psi Cylinders: diameter – 19”; stroke – 26” Driving wheel diameter: 51” Length of engine and tender: 56’ 7 ¼ “ Tender capacity: 5,000 gallons of water and 8 tons of coal
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This diorama of the Summerville Station circa 1916 was created by CMR, a company specializing in authentic reproductions of historic sites. It was built for the City of Aiken for inclusion in their project that will depict the entire136 mile route of the SC Canal and Rail Road in dioramas depicting the towns along the railroad in HO scale. __________________________________________________________________________________________
Charleston Chapter NRHS 187 Larissa Drive Charleston SC 29414
FIRST CLASS