Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc.Southeast Chapter

Newsletter No. 132 – August 2012www.rlhssec.org

Railway & Locomotive Historical SocietyAnnual Convention, May 17-20, 2012

“Birmingham Rails”The convention included the usual Board of Directors meeting, two days of touring the railroads ofBirmingham and the Annual Membership meeting. Four members of our chapter flew to Birmingham onMay 16th and stayed at the Tutwiler Hotel. The theme of the meeting was “Birmingham: Railroads, RedOre, and Red Hot Metal.” It was a great convention that was hosted by the R&LHS Mid-South Chapterunder the direction of their president, Marvin Clemons.

The first tour began with a visit to Vulcan Park, which hosts the largest cast iron statue in the world. Itdepicts the Roman god “Vulcan”, god of fire and forge, reflecting Birmingham’s roots in the iron and steelindustry. Vulcan weighs 60 tons, and stands on a 123 foot pedestal He was built for the 1904 Worlds Fair- very appropriate since Birmingham was considered the Pittsburgh of the South in terms of steelmanufacturing. Birmingham still hosts the NS, CSX, BNSF (Frisco), CN (IC), and a number of shortlines along with Amtrak’s Crescent.

The following photos were provided by Linda Fike (LF), who is a professional photographer and the wifeof the R&LHS Quarterly Newsletter editor, John Fike, and SE Chapter editor, Jim Smith (JS).

Our first tour stopwas a visit to thestatue of “Vulcan”,on top of RedMountain (so namedbecause it is madeup of iron ore). js

Your editor isstanding next to areplica of Vulcan’sfoot - he’s a big man- 56 feet tall! js

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The Southeast Limited is published bimonthly by theSoutheast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive His-torical Society, P. O. Box 600544, Jacksonville, FL32260-0544

SOUTHEAST CHAPTER OFFICERSWilliam F. Howes Jr. ChairmanArthur L. Towson Vice-ChairmanStephen J. Vertescher SecretaryRobert L. Van Nest Treasurer

The Southeast Limited Newsletter is edited by James A. Smith with layout by Clifford J. Vander Yacht.

A view of Norfolk Southern’sErnest Norris Yard, one of theirlargest hump yards. A briefingand discussion was provided bythe local NS TerminalSuperintendent who then tookus to the hump yard towerwhich was actively humpingcars. lf

Our next tour stop was visitingthe Irondale Cafe for lunch. Thebook (later a film) Fried GreenTomatoes, by Irondale nativeFannie Flagg, is loosely basedaround the town and thelandmark Irondale Cafe, knownas the Whistle-Stop Cafe in thebook & film. It is the home ofFried Green Tomatoes since1928. After lunch, we inspectedIrondale’s train watchingplatform - unfortunately wedidn’t see any trains. js & lf

A view of the Irondale trainwatching platform. There arealso three other smalleruncovered platforms on theother side of the tracks. js

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Sloss Furnace - Started in1880, by Colonel James W.Sloss, who capitalized on theunusual coincidence ofhaving coal, iron ore andlimestone in the area. SlossFurnace had two blastfurnaces that were completlyrebuilt between 1927 and1931. It and other blastfurnaces located inBirmingham and Bessemer iswhy Birmingham was calledthe Pittsburgh of the South.Sloss Furnace operated until1971 when it was donated tothe City of Birmingham andlisted as a National HistoricLandmark. lf

One of the many coal firedboilers. Note the threeopenings to shovel coal intothe firebox are in the centerand the ash removal openingsbelow. Heated air is blown inat the top. lf

Here you can see the twoblast furnaces, with anglingconveyer to deliver rawmaterials to the top of thefurnace, along with numeroussmoke stacks and the remainsof the railroad trestle (on steelpillars) that supplied coal forthe furnaces. lf

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A view looking down the slagtrack which handled moltensteel cars. lf

A view of one of the two blast furnaces. lf

SLSF (Frisco) Mikado 2-8-2,#4018 was built in 1919 and istypical of the steam engines ofthe era. It made its last run fromBessemer, AL, to Birminghamon February 29, 1952 and wasthen displayed at the AlabamaState Fairgrounds until it wasrelocated in 2009 to the SlossFurnace location where acosmetic restoration wascompleted. lf

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The next day we visitedBirmingham’s Railroad Park.Birmingham is split by a quartermile wide industrial part (mostlyrailroads) and isn’t on a riverso the valley contains just asmall stream. lf

The Leeds, AL, railroad station, built in 1884 for the Georgia & Pacific RR (followed by the Southern andNS). This is where the R&LHS Mid-South Chapter has it’s meetings. lf

We then visited Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera, AL, which is Alabama’s state railroad museum,and rode their train for 11 miles over former L&N track. Shown on these two photos are their Calera &Shelby locomotives. js

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AnnouncementsAugust 9 Regular chapter meeting, program will be by Art Towson - The Ann Arbor RR.September 13 Regular chapter meeting, program will be by Robert Van Nest - Siberia RR.October 11 Regular chapter meeting, program will be by Larry Shughart - Locomotives 101.November 8 Regular chapter meeting, program will be by Steve Vertescher - Forty Feet Below.

R&LHS Chairman, RobertHolzweiss accepting a book,Birmingham Rai i ls , theLast Golden Era , fromR&LHS Mid-South ChapterChairman, Marvin Clemons.lf

Next on our tour was a trip toBessemer, AL, to view varioustrain/steel sites. First was theBessemer station. js

This photo shows what little isleft of one of the many steeloperations in the area. Atpresent, there is only one activeblast furnace at Bessemer. lf