June 3, 2010
I have come across a June 22, 1959 Dispatcher sheet and attachments for the day showing 206 breaking a side rod
and 209 double heading with SAL diesels 1540 and 1543 from Athens to Gainesville.
It is trivial but interesting reading. I scanned the originals at 200 DPI into my computer. Printing them out made them
shrink and a little harder to read. I have place these items on the CD included with the book. Please do not distribute
these scans to anyone not owning my book.
If you would like to reproduce these scans in a non-commercial use (i.e. non-profit news letter), please give me
credit for the photos and let me know you are using them. If you have a commercial use, please contact me first.
gm dispatcher's record of movement of trains.jpg
gm form 31.jpg
delay repot of engine and train employes 1 front.jpg
delay repot of engine and train employes 1 back.jpg
delay repot of engine and train employes 2 front.jpg
delay repot of engine and train employes 2 back.jpg
gm think safety.jpg
November 10, 2007
Since my book “The Gainesville Midland and Her Sister Short Lines” was published, I have discovered
several new items.
1) page 36
# type builder built c/n history
1 0-4-2 Porter 10-1881 458 10x16 cylinders
Gainesville Jefferson & Southern #1
SE&I #375 [2-16-1903]
This was probably an 0-4-2t Forney.
GJ&S #1 was not an Forney type. It was a 2-4-0 with 8-wheel tender.
Porter c/n 458
40” drivers
26” pilot wheels
Headlight - 14” Williams
Wheel covers - Acorn finish
Injector - #4 Eclipse
tender - 22” wheels - 800 gallons water - fuel wood
2) page 37
# type builder built c/n history
4 2-6-0 Baldwin 6-1884 7370 13x20 cylinders
42” drivers
GJ&S #4
GM #4 [1904]
SI&E #562 []
Potomac, Fredericksburg & Piedmont 1st #3, Fredericksburg, VA [4-30-07]
5 4-4-0 Baldwin 9-1886 8121 12x18 cylinders
44” drivers
Marietta & North Georgia #7 [1886]
GJ&S #5 [1886]
GM #5 [1904]
disposition unknown
There has been speculation that GJ&S #4 and #5 came to the GJ&S from the Florida Southern via SI&E. I am not sure this is correct. What I located was that GJ&S #5 was from the Marietta & North Georgia RR. The standard gauging of the M&NG came not long after the purchase of M&NG #7 (financing came much sooner than expected) and so the locomotive went the the GJ&S. GJ&S #4 was built new by Baldwin for GJ&S as a 2-6-0.
2) page 38
16 2-6-0 ? ? ? Notes I have from the PSC reports show a number 16 being on the line
in 1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, and 1915. Mr. Joe A. Glosson of the GM
(in 1976) showed me a photo of the last narrow gauge train to operate
on the GM taken in Gainesville. Examination with a magnifying glass
by us at the time concluded that the locomotive was #16, the coach
was number #3 and the combine was in the teens (the second digit was
partially obscured by a sign proclaiming the train to be the last narrow
gauge train in Georgia). Other photographs of the same train taken in
Talmo and Monroe show the locomotive to be a 2-6-0.
To continue the discussion concerning possible Florida Southern locomotives on the GJ&S, GJ&S had a number 16 that not much is known about. When I examined a photograph of the last narrow gauge train to depart Gainesville, could I have transposed the numbers in my notes meaning that locomotive #3 hauled the train and the coach was number 16? I might have. I do not think so, but it is not impossible.
If I did, the belief by many that GJ&S #3 pulled the last narrow gauge train and that #3 was a 2-6-0 gets better support.
This also makes the wheel arrangement of GJ&S #16 uncertain. I had based my conclusion that #16 was a 2-6-0 on the photo.
This makes it likely that GJ&S #16 was previously Florida Southern #16 based on research by Tom Lawson and Donald R. Hensley, Jr. Since FS #16 was a 4-4-0, then GJ&S #16 would have also been a 4-4-0.
Based on this, it is probable that:
GJ&S #16 - 4-4-0
Rhode Island c/n 1590 12-1895
Originally Florida Southern #16 - “R H Brown”
14x18 cylinders
There is speculation from Lawson and Hensley that FS #17 and FS #18 ended up on GJ&S. I have no evidence to support or deny that speculation.
3) page 192 - The GM tracks north of the Southern (NS) diamonds were abaandoned in 2006 and removed by the end of the year. The last movement of any locomotive across the SRR diamonds was in early 2006 to re-rail a derailed locomotive near the old shops. All Gainesville trackage beyond the diamonds was embargoed. The City of Gainesville has taken posession of the property and plans an urban renewal of the area with an idea of mutiuse dwellings.
