35UGA0511's channel

I used to sing this as a CSA soldier in WBTS re-enactments. Later, in USAF BMT, I was tabbed to march my flight from an outpost location back to the dorm. I WAS READY. I had a custom-altered version I had penned for our flight just in case. As I belted out the cadence, I began the Goober Peas par...

What a great mind and poet Adrian was. "...so scrub my skin with women, chain my tongue with whiskey, stuff my nose with garlic, coat my eyes with butter, fill my ears with silver, stick my legs in plaster and tell me lies about..." AFGHANISTAN ! (We could use words like these today.)

Wonderful score, wonderful motion picture! ...I am an Atlantan born & bred. GWTW will be forever woven into the unique and storied history of my town. I can remember in the old days of traipsing thru the Cyclorama amidst real cannonballs picked up from the neighborhood battlefield. The TEXAS (The...

I enjoy this score because it reminds me of my hometown... I grew up near Fort #7 on Atlanta's defensive perimeter. My yard was the site of a Federal calvary encampment. Whitehall was just a mile or so away. I was born on Peachtree, a little south of the Fabulous Fox! The WBTS was real in Atlanta...

Thanx, dantzmusic, for the memories of my hometown: When I was 5, I found an 1894 penny at Piedmont Park at the site of the Cotton States Expo of 1895; I remember GWTW as a unique story and immortal flavor, even that spot at Peachtree & 13th; I remember the Flatiron and Candler buildings, the Loe...

The sound of home - a long time ago in a tear-jerking galaxy far, far away. But yet, as close as my heart. You see, I was born on Peachtree, a little bit of Ashley Wilkes and a whole lot of Rhett Butler, I'm afraid. I can still smell the old Planter's Nuts store near Alabama & Broad and hear the ...

" When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there is shouting." -- Solomon (Prov. 11). It is my observation that if any change is to come to retrieve freedom and dignity for the US as a whole, it must come from without. The evil root is too deep. There ...

Here's to my friend, Wilburn J. Guidry (04 Mar 1934 - 27 Oct 2003), of Lafayette, Louisiana. He is buried in his hometown, where it's always a Louisiana Saturday night.

Great Test Case Possible -- With no Republican candidates properly qualifying to appear on the ballot except Paul & Romney, Virginia GOP primary reveals the prospect of what Ron Paul would do mano-a-mano against a GOP insider / backroom front man. If all the anti-Romney forces join with the core ...

Another stab from the past ! ...almost. The engine second out is the immediate successor pony to the very first SR unit I ever mounted as a trainman : the SR # 2816. Also, those 3500's had excellent engine brakes to my recollection - the NS 3533 had the best brakes I ever saw on an GP unit. For t...

Well, it's pretty good here, but was even better in person. I was on the 9th or 10th row that day. I always enjoyed the First Baptist productions. I even got to appear in a few of them - pretty good for an old boy that doesn't count ! ...Shalom

Sweet night-time shot, Gene-O ! Tommy will be a sure-fire RRer some day....He already knows all about it ! ( *<{:-}}} nice shot with Santa on the card )

Let's say for sake of argument that Ron Paul beats the GOP filters and becomes the front-runner. Can all imagine the treachery that would ensue to deny him the nomination? And if that be overcome, and he actually beat the little street weasel (BHO), would the election be voided? Would a false fla...

One of my period favorites....the CSA general at 2:05 is John B. Gordon. I had the pleasure to work with his great- great grand nephew, a railroad engineer on the Southern, who did great credit to his family. My family was split - dad's line Federals, mom's line Confederates. It was a head-buttin...

Two more African proverbs : "A large chair does not make a king." - Sudan / "He who refuses to obey (as in the US Constitution?) cannot command." - Kenya (ironically) / Bonus proverb: "A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow." (especially a sneaky crow in a golden cage aka a big white h...

Hello Alex! Today I offer African / Chinese proverbs that seem to fit our wonderful world. "If the cockroach wants to rule over the chicken, then it must hire the fox as a body guard." - Sierra Leone / "When there are no tigers in the mountains, even a monkey can become king." - China. He that ha...

My father's cousin , Raleigh Drennon , played for Georgia Tech in the 1929 Rose Bowl and was said to be one of Roy's tacklers on the play at the Cal - 2yd. line. After holding the Bears to a punting situation, the punt was blocked out of the end zone for a safety by Tech's Vance Maree. Raleigh go...

Observation from afar : Methinks that very soon, both the US military and the Secret Service will face a Ceausescu moment. What might future historians denote ?

@yahshuah29 :Good points all - I have been aware of the facts of your reply for a very long time. However, the substance of my observation would only involve the courts early on. They would be exposed (widely) as no longer viable and define the argument(s) in more absolute terms. "The Machine" is...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Gene-O & Tommy !! ....I certainly hope none of your Christmas hopes get derailed and that The Lord smiles upon little Tommy. I may have something for y'all in the near future.... Funny thing here : that Santa looks surprisingly familiar. He resembles a former co-worker of mine on...

OOOPS ! Check that -- It was 210's train that had the little run-in with the high-railer truck. After I had entered that I said, "Wait a minute." I'm trying to get all my career stories written down before my occasional brain lapse turns into total UN-recall. Same run, just a different digit. I ...

The sounds of railroad yesterdays! ....This catch reveals the sounds of my early years on the SR. Only the H-line was ribbon-railed at that time, and all other tracks, mainline sidings, thoroughfares, and even the K-line, were clickety-clack. Very nice catch, CN&TN2, but methinks the romantic exc...

Nice and rare catch, CN&TN2 ! ....I remember that when I handled these type trains as a trainman and I had a cub (trainee) with me, I informed him / her that these were "HV" items being transported -- HIGH VALUE. They are categorized as such on the switch list or manifest. I assured them that if ...

At 3:28 is the famous "Bat Pole", a universally recognized point of reference. The wind cone at the top must be a recent addition. I don't recall it being there when I retired in Jan / 2008. At any rate the Bat Pole is located opposite FT-13 switch, south end of the Forwarding Yard. Lots of train...

Of course all here must know that my comments r/e ultimate coolness and myself can no longer co-exist in the same sentence. I am retired : read OLD and FAT ! -- the cosmic opposites of Cool .... :( (next video please)

Tropicana Reefeers !! ...Nice catch & a nice ride !

Now they're SUPER COOL and I'm not on the engine. AWW-Noooooo!.... I guess you can tell I'm in a comical mood today. One old yard dog I used to work with called me "Data" back when Star Trek TNG first aired - It was because my humor was so off the wall and sophisticated, to the point I was like ...

RR Poetry : ....Down here they call me Smokin' Joe, I write my name wherever I go : Boxcar high or Flatcar low, Come ride the rails with Smokin' Joe !! .... I never met him, Gene-O, but I read that caption hundreds of times on hundreds of cars.

Ahh ! The sound of a coal train squeal on the rail.....

I have heard it said that Roy Orbison could span three complete octaves and that no one else known (up to that time) could do it. I find that fact astonishing. I may be out of my field here, but I think I know the resonance of cosmic beauty, and Roy Orbison possessed it.

Nice shot, CN&TN2 ! ....Way back when I was on the mainline, we almost hit a car full of kids near here in south Dalton. Our train from DeButts to Inman was traveling at circa 35 MPH to my memory. It gives me the creeps just to think about it, even today. It seems that there are fewer incidents t...

The cadences are more extensive and varied now, but I can remember a young man that marched up and down these very streets 2 generations ago. He was a house mouse in a squadron long since retired. And now his marching son is there, a gator in 320 TRS, no less ! And who might this old geezer be ? ...

I miss the old tuxedo configuration paint job on SR engines. T'was the scheme for the first several years of my RR career. The NS wrapper is not flattering by comparison. Although I cannot confirm it, scuttlebutt had it that the first NS horse logo was painted on an engine in Chattanooga. Scuttle...

@DJGENEX71 ...one time I caught a steam excursion to Toccoa (on my own time - not on duty) and I arrived too late to get a good parking spot. The streets were even covered up for a mile in every direction. So....I used my RR keys to obtain access to the mainline itself in the secured area, parked...

Hey, want to read a cool story involving the REAL NS#52 ? Check out the comment section of "NS # 347 at Berwin, Georgia 8/26/06" by southern7002x. I was involved. Be sure to read the story in Part # sequence; YouTube sometimes mixes up the order of multiple entries. I was inspired to tell the st...

Nice neat shot !! ....CN&TN2 , I sent you a message off-page ; check account e-mail. Sorry to be so much trouble, but at my age, sometimes, bad things happen ....

Old - style top-drop battery EOT device that used that heavy kind

Really brings back the memories. I used to like working with the 2600 series units back 1 / 3 of a century ago -- and in Tuxedo Configuration, too ! ....For some cool, tragic, bloody, and humorous stories I amassed in my 30 + years on the rails, check out my comments on video pages by "southern70...

@35UGA0511 ....to myself for public benefit : J.J.'s name I misspelled before : J.J. Tohal is the correct spelling. It has been a long time, but my fading memory of distant one-time events and details, especially r/e men I barely knew, is not an excuse for at least honoring J.J. and his family by...

PART # 9 : There was blood and pieces of meat on the cross-ties, the ballast, and spattered upon the interior side and top of the west rail of the track. And there, sitting upright on the 69th cross-tie south from the turn-out of the track, sat a boot. And erupting out of that boot was a sordid b...

@DJGENEX71 ...probably pitching a fit because Mom and Dad keep working him too much, doubling back off the extra board ! He's probably getting 9 tickets a week -- he's gonna have to mark off sick just to catch a break ! ....ha-ha-ha. Check your mail, Gene-O (the real kind), I sent you a C.A.R.E....