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Trains Magazine 1968 November Alpha & Omega of Steam Turbo Train 20 yrs tractive
Trains Magazine 1968 November
November 1968Volume 29 Number 1
NEWS ---3
PROFESSIONAL ICONOCLAST -5
RAILROAD NEWS PHOTOS -8
STEAM NEWS PHOTOS - - 12 SALESMAN'S PEREGRINATIONS 14 A SEASON FOR ALL SEASONS - 18
THE IRON HORSE OPERA- 20
AN OBJECTIVITY TEST - - 26 STEAM IN ITS BIRTHPLACE - 29
IN LIEU OF THE STEEL FLEET -40
TRACTION'S HEAVYWEIGHTS - 44
I REMEMBER . . .---46
Railway post office 49Second section 55
Of books and trains 54Running extra 55
Interchange 56
COVER: BR 4-4-0 Glen Lyon, R. K. Evans; Turbo-train, United Aircraft; UP in Cajon, Robert Hale.
WHAT ONE MAN CAN DO
I NOT so many years ago a train-watcher on the Burlington's platforms in Galesburg, Ill., was intrigued by a westbound passenger extra that bounded into town, paused just long enough to change crews, and highballed out. Upon inquiry, the flagman disclosed that his train held a stag party of baseball fans from Omaha who had been to Chicago for a Cubs game. "The bar train," he called it.
The more the train-watcher thought about the Q extra, the more he became convinced that its concept was exportable. He was George Weiss, an Augusta (Ga.) radio-station (WBBQ) owner who thrives on salesmanship, cigars, life, and riding passenger trains. So he went home to Georgia and began putting together a package he called the Georgia Cannonball. With Jaycee sponsorship and the bemused support of the Georgia Railroad, Weiss laid out a Saturday stag excursion which he felt no Augusta man could resist. For $28.50 the Cannonball offered a special nonstop private train to Stone Mountain, Ga.; a steak dinner at a fancy restaurant; bus transportation beyond to the stadium; a reserved seat at an Atlanta Braves baseball game; and a train ride home. The train itself would pack plenty
of cold beer, feature live Dixieland music, cater to card players, and serve a fried-chicken supper. Weiss and the Jaycees buttonholed Augustans to go, WBBQ ran Cannonball spot commercials around the clock, the local press gave the excursion considerable ink . .
. . . And the Cannonball excursion on June 24, 1967, flopped. Weiss wound up with only 44 riders, a red face, a grim railroad, disillusioned sponsors, and the sole consolation that his train had made a speed record by running from Augusta to Stone Mountain, 155 miles, in 2 hours 45 minutes. The Braves even lost their game.
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