Great report Walt! Would love to see some pics! any?
Chuck Walters
President - Central New York Large-Scale Railway Society
http://home.twcny.rr.com/cnylsrs
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2000 12:07 PM
To: Multiple recipients of sslivesteam
Subject: Mike Report, the rest of the story.
Due to later sunrise, as the days get shorter and the peak of hurricane
season approaches, this Saturday's run of the SWAMP RR local freight was
called for a 7:55 AM fire-up. The tender was filled, fuel was filled, oiling
all around was completed by the 8:01 safety valve pop off. Because last week
the consist had highfalutin imported beer car, dinky little 4 wheel ones at
that, the residents of Everglades City and Chockoloskee (they have a bridge
now to the mainland, the kids don't have to swim to the mainland any more)
arranged for a prominent St. Louis, Mo. brewer to get some of "the real
stuff" for them. As a result, the following cars were in the consist:
Converted Erie 2 bay hopper w/firefighting & suppression tools
USA#1641 Anheuser~Bush Brewing Association 20,000 loads Comm. Car
USA#1642 A~B Budweiser Car (the first beer to be called Budweiser in US was
made by the Dubois Brewing Co., in Dubois, PA).
USA#1643 A~B BUSCH BEER car
USA#1644 A~B Michelob Dry Beer Car
USA#1645 Carlsburg Beer (A~B is the prime importer)
USA#1646 A~B O'Doul's non alcoholic Beer car (requested by the WCTU ladies)
USA#1647 A~B King Cobra Malt Liquor car (requested by the 'not quite 21 yet
crowd)
USA#1648 A~B Bud Light car (requested by the over 36" ((and over))
waist crowd)
The last revenue car was a Starbucks Coffee car. We do not know who
requested
it, but they must have wanted a lot of wide awake inebriates.
Of course the SWAMP RR Crummy # 1 was at the end of the train.
A water stop was made at big Cypress Bend at 8:18 AM
The train proceeded to Carnestown where it joined the Deep Lake spur before
heading south to Everglades City.
The Deep Lake and Everglades RR was the first line in Collier Count, built
to
haul grapefruit from the grove at Deep Lake to Everglades City for shipment
by steam boat or sailing vessel to points south (Key West or Havana), or
north to Ft. Myers. The motive power was a converted Ford (Model A or T?
with
flanged wheels) and later a battery powered streetcar that ran from
Carnestown to Everglades City when the Tamiami trail reached Carnestown.
Collier County resulted from the acquisition of hundreds of thousands of
acres of land in the area by Barron Gift Collier. Mr. Collier is reported to
have accumulated a fortune by having a monopoly on those streetcar
advertisements that the over 60 crown may recall. They were placed in the
curve where the wall & roof of the car body met.
Old time SWAMP RR employees recall that they had to be careful when
switching
Grapefruit cars originating in Everglades City - if you bumped them too
hard,
there was a tinkling sound inside and the car would leak a dark amber liquid
that evaporated quickly. Some rumor that those boats to Cuba did not return
empty to Everglades City in the '20's..
In any event, SWAMP RR #1 reached Everglades City at 9:06 AM, just about out
of fuel after a run of 1 hour 5 minutes.
The old habits of the 20's (prohibition) must have carried over to the
next generation. There were many Everglades City and Chockoloskee Island
residents that were guests of the Federal Government for illegal
transportation of "square Grouper" in the 70's and 80's. Some are still
guests, due for release after 15 to 30.
Keep your steam up!
Mr. B. W. Lunkenheimer & Walt
PS Does anyone have a guess what B. W. stands for?
