I FOUR FOR THE NRHS PROSPECTS of four intriguing steam and electric trips sponsored by Wisconsin Chapter hosts lured more than 500 persons to Chicago over Labor Day for the 1961 annual convention of the National Railway Historical Society. And the excursionists weren't disappointed. On Saturday Grand Trunk Western's now-inactive 4-8-4 No. 6323 took conventioners to South Bend, Ind., and delighted riders by returning on time. Some 560 persons rode behind Burlington 4-8-4 5632 to Dubuque, Ia., on Sunday on a trip which combined steam, domes, and scenery. Electric railroading was featured Monday with two trips- -a morning excursion on the South Shore Railroad to Michigan City, Ind., on a train hauled part way by motor 705, and an all-M.U. afternoon junket on the North Shore Line to North Chicago Junction. For trips, food, lodging, banquet, and incidentals, conventioners spent $30,000 in the three days they gathered a fact which surely endeared them to the Windy City in equal proportion to the pleasure NRHS members derived from Chicago's railroads. Jim Boyd. Charles Kraatz CB&Q 5632 charges uphill near Oregon, Ill., on way to Dubuque. REGULAR CSS&SB train passes special west of Michigan City. MOST DISCS OF THIS KIND ARE WORTHLESS CURIOSITIES; here, however, is a record of railroad sounds that might well go into archives of American history and folk lore. The recordings were taken late in 1957 and early in 1958 on the Norfolk and Western, just before that line put away its steam locomotives in favor of Diesels. They were made in mountain country where there are many tunnels, bridges, cliffs, and cuts to add variety to the sounds of the engines, and many grades that caused them to labor. The first side immortalizes a 400-mile round trip by a huge Class J streamliner. The second side contains the sounds of an ancient switch engine at work and of other old-timers climbing the mountains in remote and lonely places. Last of all is a tone picture that would have been an insufferable tear-jerker if it had been imitated in a musical composition, but it is most legitimate and affecting as a slice of aural reality: The last Class J to pull the New Orleans-Washington express stops at and departs from the village of Rural Retreat, Va., on Christmas Eve, 1957, while Mrs. J. H. Dodson plays "Silent Night" and other carols on the chimes of the Lutheran Church. The complexity, subtlety, delicacy, and richness of the tones and rhythms caught on this disc are most remarkable. Listening to it heightens one's awareness of all everyday sound, but it particularly calls attention to the fact that the nostalgic music of a locomotive's steam whistle in the distance will soon have vanished from the American scene. -A. F. $4.95 Ck or MO 0. Winston, Link, Railway Prod. 58 East 34 St., New York 16, N. Y. U.S. and Canada $1.00 extra other countries tions were quickly and efficiently carried out. CEMENT SPECIALS: Wherever possible, British Railways is co-operating with industrial firms in order to secure suitable freight traffic. An example of this is the weekly movement of cement from the Cement Marketing Company's works in Kent (in southern England) to a new Scottish distribution depot at Uddingston. There are eight "cement-expresses" a week, each weighing 1050 tons with 800 tons payload and diesel hauled. Each locomotive hauls 30 lightweight bulk rail tankers. These four-wheeled cars each carry 27 tons of cement which can be discharged into underrail reception hoppers in only 5 minutes. Turnaround of a complete train at Uddingston is 4 hours. net WILLIAM K. VIEKMAN WE'VE DISCOVERED A RAILROAD: Okinawa's last railway, we are told, operated until the American invasion in 1945. It ran between the capital city of Naha and Koza, about 12 miles, on 3' 6"-gauge track. Today barely a trace of this line remains because it was literally blasted off the face of the earth. The main island, then, is without a rail carrier. However, the story does not terminate there. To the southeast is Minami Daito Jima (literally, South Great Eastern Island), a 3 x 4-mile speck in the vast Pacific. But that speck has a railroad! The Daito (Great Eastern) Sugar Company operates a 6-mile, 2'-gauge Such a happy way to ų FLORIDA IN SILVER FLEET LUXURY WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD! Icy roads and leaden skies are far from the thoughts of smart, experienced travelers aboard a modern Seaboard Streamliner. Peace-of-mind lets them relax and enjoy spacious accommodations, club-like lounges, excellent meals and gracious hospitality. Like to join them? Then let us reserve your "Resort train luxury!" Morning and afternoon departures from New York and Miami SILVER STAR SILVER METEOR Featuring Registered Nurse, Passenger Service Agent, the "Hospitality Hour." LIBERAL LUGGAGE ALLOWANCE FOR DE LUXE Pullman and Coach Reservations SEE YOUR TRAVEL AGENT OR LOCAL TICKET AGENT. SEABOARD RAILROAD |