Alphabet File page 303

  Almost every railroad has its folklore about the fastest train ever to operate over the line, and the NO&M is no exception.  On a summer day in 1916, a special train rolled out of the Canal Street Station just as church bells were pealing the hour of noon.  It was a mercy train, with a single passenger aboard its lone coach; Dr. Butterworth, a noted rabies specialist, was being rushed to Montgomery, 318 miles distant, at the request of a banker whose two children were seriously ill with the disease.

 

  At the throttle of G-10 class Ten-Wheeler No. 252 was Engineer James "Steel Arm" Dickerson.  His orders were to make the run to Mobile as quickly as possible, and he did just that, rolling into town at 2:16 p.m. after averaging more than a mile a minute.  It was a NO&M speed record, eclipsing the performance of such speedsters as the Barrett Lightning Matinee Special (2 hours, 47 minutes on February 3, 1874)

 

  Dickerson made one 5-minute stop at Bay St. Louis for water and oiling and stated that he could have made an even faster trip except the single car did not give him sufficient braking power to slow (or stop), if necessary) for the drawbridges.  L&N's extraordinary efforts were not in vain;  Dr. Butterworth was successful in his treatment of the two children.

 

1885 - Signals

  In 1885, L&N contracted with Union Switch & Signal Company for home and distant semaphore signals on drawbridges.  For more than 40 years, this was the only signaling other than interlocking plants on the entire NO&M.  Protected railroad crossings included the Gulf, Mobile & Northern at Chocktaw yard (Mobile), Mobile & Bay Shore at Mann, Ala., Gulf & Ship Island at Gulfport, Miss., and New Orleans & Northeastern and New Orleans Terminal Railroad within New Orleans.

  The Interstate Commerce Commission issued an order in July 1924 that required virtually all major railroads to install a system of automatic train control (ATC) on at least one passenger-carrying division.  L&N's initial installation was between Etowah, Tenn., and Corbin, Ky., and the NO&M was for the second.  Thus in early 1927 an automatic block system, of the absolute permissive type (with semaphore aspects), was activated between Palmetto Street, Mobile, and Claiborne Street, New Orleans.  Concurrent with this installation , an automatic train stop system was placed in service between the GM&N interlocking at Choctaw Yard and Claiborne Street. (The Railroad That Walks on Water, by J. G. Lachaussee and J. Parker Lamb)

 

  1892

 

  1892 -  Louisville & Nashville R.R. Time Table.

                       Going South:

                          No. 1. due 3:03 p.m., daily

                          No. 3.  "  6:02 a.m., daily

                          No. 5.  "  5:17 a.m., daily

                          No. 7.  "  6:58 a.m., daily ex. Sun

                        Going North:

                          No. 2. due 9:12 p.m., daily

                          No. 4.  " 12:38 a.m., daily

                          No. 6.  "  9:45 a.m., daily

                          No. 8.  "  5:41 p.m., daily ex. Sun

Chas, Marshal, Sup. B. W. Pearson, Local Agt. (SCE 8/6/1892)

 

L & N Railroad.  On account of the regatta at the Pass, the L.& N. runs a dollar excursion from New Orleans today.  (SCE 8/6/1892)

 

Railroad:  The Old Reliable- L. &. N. R. R. and Limited Express Daily in Pullman Vestibuled Cars. To Montgomery, Birmingham, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington. (SCE 10/01/1892)

 

Train No. 2 will leave New Orleans at 8 PM instead of 7:25 PM beginning tomorrow night.  The change is a good one for the coast people who desire to spend an entire day in New  Orleans.  The time from New Orleans to New York is 45  hours.  (SCE/10/22/1892)

 

The L. & N. pay car passed through yesterday.  (SCE 10/22/1892)

 

L. & N. - the inspection party of the L. &. N. road took in the division of the road the other day, and, notwithstanding the destructive elements of the gulf, reported the road in a good condition, but that an extensive overhauling of the road would soon be necessary.  (SCE 12/03/1892)

 

It is understood that the railroad will have the Biloxi bridge put in condition the same as the bridge at this point is being put in.  The work will not begin until the Bay bridge is completed.  (SCE 12/17/1892)

 

The dates for the L. & N. R.R. Sunday excursions during the winter, are so far fixed, viz:  December 18, January 15th and February 12th.  The regular Sunday excursions will probable be resumed about the middle of March.  It would be well to remember the foregoing dates.  (SCE 12/17/1892)

 

1893

 

Mr. John Kilkenny, D.P.A., and Mr. Chas. Marshall, Supt., have issued the following: To accommodate the increase in our gulf coast patronage, we have decided, commencing July 22nd to run an extra coast train, which will leave Canal Street depot, at 3:05 p.m. on Saturdays, with chair car and "club on wheels" attached, stopping at Pontchartrain Junc., Lookout,  Waveland, Nicholson Avenue and all regular stops beyond. This train will return Monday morning as first section of, and making same stops as train No. 3, arriving at 7:35 a.m. The regular coast train will run as usual, and on Monday morning will carry chair car and "club on wheels." (SCE 7/22/1893)

 

Pearson, Mr. B.W., and his estimable wife, will depart next Tuesday to take charge of the Mississippi City depot as depot agent for the L. & N. railroad company. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson have been at the depot for about three years, have given universal satisfaction and won the esteem and confidence of all who have met them.  It is with a feeling of deep and sincere regret that the writer learns of their departure.  May good luck and the best of good things be always with them.  Agent Jno. A. Green, at that point, will succeed Mr. Pearson here. (SCE 7/29/1893)

 

  1900 - July 7

  That week the Louisville & Nashville Railroad ran its timetable for commuters interconnecting with Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Beauvoir, Mississippi City, Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis.  An example: From Biloxi to Gulfport constituted a 26 minute trip by train four times a day. (80 years ago today July 7 1980 VF MJS VIII 00079)

 

1919 - Circa

 

   Early trains -- hot and dusty -- were the only way to travel.

 The first 30 years of my life people rode the trains when they went anywhere.  If one lived out in the country some distance away from the railroad  he would go by horse power to the nearest railway station and catch a train to his destination.

Long cross country trips like people make today were not made in the old days due to time consumed and difficulty of travel.

From my business in Picayune to the town of Nicholson is 3 1/2 miles.  When I went into business in 1919 almost all travel between Picayune and Nicholson was by train.  People from Nicholson  would catch passenger train No. 6 at about 8:00 a.m. to come to Picayune. They would do their banking and other business, then wait around to catch train No. 5 back home about 2:30 p.m.

People living out from Picayune would come into town, hitch their horses and go the 25 miles to Poplarville, the county seat on the morning train and come back on the early afternoon train, spending almost a whole day to go the county seat and return.  Now, they make this round trip much more conveniently in much less time.