February 2012 Memphis Buff

THE MEMPHIS BUFF

VOLUME 39, ISSUE 2

NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

February 2012

A Box of “Stuff” From Central Station Rock Island Pillow Man Busted Platform reconfiguration for City of New Orleans Plan to Enclose the Lower Concourse

Memphis Chapter Officers President – Walter Lang

walterhlang@yahoo.com

Vice President – Bruce Smedley Director – Bill Strong Secretary/Treasurer – Thomas Doherty Program Co-chairman – Carl Lancaster Program Co-chairman – Don Weis Yahoo Group Co-ordinater – Terry Redeker Newsletter Editor – Tom Parker

williambstrong@bellsouth.net TRDoherty@aol.com DBWeis@aol.com tkredeker@hotmail.com tscottparker@gmail.com

Last Months Meeting

Last months meeting was a dinner meeting held at Dino's Grill on N. McLean. Dinner was at 6:00 P.M. and the meeting started at its' regular time of 7:00 P.M. During the business meeting it was agreed that periodically we'd hold our meetings at places other than the Germantown Library. The library will be our normal meeting place.

After the business meeting Terry Redeker presented a program based on his photography and Train watching trips in 2010.

Next months meeting will be held at the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum located in Central Station.

Remember – The February meeting will be held at the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum in Central Station, 545 South Main.

The museum entrance is just south of the Amtrak entrance on Main Street. See you there!

A MRTM meeting inside the museum

Next Meeting Thursday, February 9, 2012 7:00 PM MRTM 545 S. Main, Suite 121

A Box of Stuff from Central Station

By Tom Parker An acquaintance of mine from a previous life when I was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad mentioned to me years ago that he had acquired some material from Central Station after it had been abandoned by the railroad, boarded up and left to deteriorate. Being involved in the development of the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum, I remembered his comment and wondered if he would be interested in donating the material to the Museum.

nation itself indicated that it was one of many. Indeed, the source of the box said it was but one on “a wall of boxes in the engineer and surveyor's offices”.

The following stories represent some of the material in the box.

Imagine all the stories and information that have been lost in all those other boxes.

I contacted him by email and he answered me back “It doesn't amount to much... I'll box it up and send it down to you”. Later sent me another email saying he would be in town over the Christmas holidays and would arrange to get the material to me. The arrangements were made and a couple of days after Christmas I picked up the box.

It was a box like thousands of other boxes that were used by the railroad in all of their offices up and down the railroad. In the days before computers, paper was the preferred communication media used by the railroad and practically every communication ended up in a box such as this one, on a shelf, in one of the many offices up and down the railroad.

This box was labeled “Central Station, A-5, Box A”. The desig-

This diagram of the tracks between Beale Street and Central Station was found in the box.

Rock Island Pillow Man Busted!

By Tom Parker About 10:00 PM, on June 25, 1960,baggage clerk L. C. Acree phoned the Illinois Central Special Agent's office and reported spotting some black men in the rear of the baggage room and they appeared to have been drinking. Upon investigating, Patrolman T. C. “Big Tom” Lambeth and Lieutenant Fred W. Hatcher were unable to find the reported individuals in the baggage room area but they were subsequently located on the platform near track six.

Central Station Baggage Room circa 1964 (L&N photo from Mike Condren's Website) The individuals, James and John Rogers, stated that they were friends of Frank Taylor, who sold pillows on Rock Island Train #21, and were looking for him. They both had the strong odor of alcohol on their breath and admitted to have been drinking. The agents escorted the subjects back to the baggage room where they found Frank Taylor.

Taylor stated that the two men had come to the station to pick him up after he had finished selling pillows on the Rock Island train. Taylor further stated that he was not an employee of the Rock Island, but was authorized to sell pillows on train 21 prior to its departure from Central Station. The railroad furnished the pillow and pil-

low cases. He laundered the pillow cases and was allowed to keep the money he received for renting the pillows.

The Rock Island Passenger Agent Trotter was called and informed of the situation and said that he would handle the matter with Taylor. Since they did not appear to be inebriated, all three were escorted off the property. James and John Rogers were told not to come back unless they had business to transact.

According to a note from Stationmaster J.F. Owen dated June 29, 1960, in early 1959 the Rock Island Railroad eliminated chair car attendants on their trains. In order to accommodate their passengers, arrangements were made with R. L. McEwen an usher employed by the Illinois Central, to meet inbound train #21 and collect the pillows , launder the pillow cases and rent them to passengers on train #22. This did not conflict with McEwen's regular duties and Stationmaster Owen agreed to the practice for the comfort and convenience of the Rock Island passengers. Over time, McEwen's duties changed and he was no longer able to meet the trains. Unbeknownst to Owen and the Illinois Central, McEwen turned the pillow concession to Taylor.

In his note, Owen also reported that Taylor had been “relieved of duty” and a Eugene Cunningham had been engaged by the Rock Island to perform the service. As a result of Taylor's dismissal, the Special Agent's office closed the case on July 1, 1960.

Correspondence was exchanged between Frank J. Duggan, Superintendent of the Tennessee Division, Illinois Central Railroad and Superintendent R. W. Anderson of the Rock Island in Little Rock. Duggan's main concern was that of the Illinois Central's liability should the concessionaire be injured or killed or cause death or injury to other persons. In a letter dated October 24, 1960, Superintendent Anderson agreed that the concessionaire would be considered an employee of The Rock Island.

From Mike Condren website – Phil Gosney Photo

These wooden passenger platforms north of the lower concourse subway and stairs were installed after C. H. Mottier noticed passengers having difficulty boarding the southbound City of New Orleans.

Reconfiguration of Platforms for The City of New Orleans

By Tom Parker

On Saturday, July 31, 1948, C.H. Mottier, Vice President and Chief Engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, while in Memphis, had occasion to notice the handling of passengers on the Southbound City of New Orleans. In a letter dated August 3, 1948, to H. K. Buck, Memphis Terminal Superintendent, Mr. Mottier noted that the rear cars were spotted north of the platform and some passengers attempting to board the train were walking over switch rods and around switch stand of the slip switch in track nine. To alleviate the situation, he proposed moving a crossover some 300 feet north and reconfiguration of other tracks and switches to allow extending the platform northward between tracks nine and ten.

On August 5th, Mr. Buck passed the inquiry on to Trainmaster A. B. “Archie” Holt and Division Engineer E. H. Lewis. After investigating the situation, In a memo to the Superintendent dated October 4th, Holt reported that after going over the location with Lewis and a Mr. Lang, that Lang had drawn up a plan to “move the puzzle switch

Part of the drawing attached to C. H. Mottier's letter showing suggested new platforms in red and required reconfiguration of track.

north of the crossover leading from the southward main to long 10, which will make an improvement at the north end of 9”.

Later correspondence on November 3rd indicated that nothing could be done with the connection of track No. 8 due to location of the stairway canopy and sky light and that the existing crossover probably could not be used at the new location due to the curvature of the track. The file ends with the November 3rd correspondence, but obviously all the problems were worked out and the platforms were installed.

It's amazing what a letter from a V.P. Can do!

Blueprint of south wall of Central Station showing enclosed concourse. (1947) ence. Possibly the increase in cost and decrease 1948 Plan to enclose concourses at in passenger traffic were the causes for dropCentral Station ping the plan.

By Tom Parker

When the renovated Central Station opened in September of 1999, the previously open air upper concourse had been enclosed with glass windows and doors on its south wall. As it turns out, this was hardly a new idea. A proposal to enclose the upper and lower concourses was considered over fifty years earlier in 1947.

On September 30, 1947, E. O Korsmo Construction Company submitted an estimate of $6,105.00 for enclosing the upper concourse and installing doors in the lower concourse of Central Station. It is not clear why the estimate was submitted, but it would be assumed that the estimate was requested by the railroad. The estimate was forwarded to B.M. Murdoch in the Division Engineer's office by Superintendent H.K. Buck with the observation in his memo that it would “provide all weather protection for this area, and relieve a very congested condition in the waiting rooms�. It's ironic that ultimately the purpose of enclosing the upper concourse was to consolidate all the passenger functions in a small area, rather than expand the waiting room area to relieve congestion.

On December 11th the Division Engineer returned an estimate of $9,200 for the project.

Later on March 2, 1951, the estimate was increased to $12,300 by the Division Engineer. On January 7, 1952, the Division Engineer's office traced the Superintendent and asked if the file should be closed. Evidently the answer was that it should as there was no further correspond-

Enclosed concourse circa 1999

A couple of cool blueprints!

CABOOSE

CB&Q 10625 From the collection of Bill Strong Meeting Schedule Thursday February 9, 2012 Meeting Location: Memphis Railroad & Trolley Museum 7-9 pm.

545 S. Main, Suite 121 Memphis, TN 38103

Contact the Editor Tom Parker 3012 Wood Thrush Drive Memphis, TN 38134 tscottparker@gmail.com