This Special Date in Railroad History

NYC, Nice post!

Also my brother Mike's birthday. He's feeling old, so I told him about the train accident to make him feel younger.

Great Front End Friday Skip.

Great thread, thanks Skip

Wonderful commemoration!!  Thanks for bringing this special date to our awareness.       

Thanks Skip.

Tom

My brother Mike was funny. His reply to my text was, "I may be old as Casey Jones, but you look like him." Well, I replied that I did say he was as old as him, and no way I look like Casey, I ain't that handsome, lol.

Thanks for posting...

Thanks Skip........Casey Jones was also famous here in Australia, partially due to the TV show with Allan Hale playing the role of Casey Jones. One of my all time favorite TV shows as a small child growing up.

I can still hear the opening song......"that's Casey at the throttle of the Cannonball Express"!!!!

Peter (Buco Australia)

Skip, thanks so much for bringing this special date up in today's railroad history class.

Buco, wow, Casey even made it Down Under as well!  Cool!

Perhaps it is fitting to remember Casey Jones, as Presiden Biden, known as Amtrak Joe*,  has made a comittment to fund and expand Amtrak in Century 21 in a speech given to mark Amtrak's 50th Anniversary.  The official celebration was performed at the Pennsylvania Railroad's beautiful 30th Street Art-Deco gem of a station in Philadelphia, PA.

Item:  Both Amtrak and the 30th St. station are featured in the motion picture Witness which starred Harrison Ford as a Philly detective.  A great flick shot on location in Philadelphia as well as in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country around Strasburg.  A pity the Strasburg Rail Road wasn't included in the movie.  Just goes to prove that you can't always have your popcorn and eat it too, huh?

*  Amtrak Joe and more can be seen at www.railwayage.com   Enjoy.

Happy Rails

Joe

@Buco posted:

Thanks Skip........Casey Jones was also famous here in Australia, partially due to the TV show with Allan Hale playing the role of Casey Jones. One of my all time favorite TV shows as a small child growing up.

I can still hear the opening song......"that's Casey at the throttle of the Cannonball Express"!!!!

Peter (Buco Australia)

Peter,

I think you will enjoy this !
Hope it brings back some good memories!

Bryce

Thanks for posting this Skip.

I wounder how many Grateful Dead fans know the true meaning of "Casey Jones you better watch your speed"

@RSJB18 posted:

Thanks for posting this Skip.

I wounder how many Grateful Dead fans know the true meaning of "Casey Jones you better watch your speed"

Funny that you bring up the Dead. My first job I heard about every set, every version of that song with all other Dead songs. My coworker Bob was a huge Dead fan. Poor Casey.

Thanks Bryce......got some compulsory viewing to do this afternoon (it's Sunday morning here down-under). This TV show takes me back to being six years old (1959) and laying on the living room floor (Lino.....my parents couldn't afford carpet) and watching Casey and his fireman (I forget his screen name) get the Cannonball up and running.

Thank you so much again!!

Peter (Buco Australia)

@Buco posted:

Thanks Bryce......got some compulsory viewing to do this afternoon (it's Sunday morning here down-under). This TV show takes me back to being six years old (1959) and laying on the living room floor (Lino.....my parents couldn't afford carpet) and watching Casey and his fireman (I forget his screen name) get the Cannonball up and running.

Thank you so much again!!

Peter (Buco Australia)

Wally Simms was the fireman in the TV series. That was my favorite show.  

@Buco posted:

Thanks Bryce......got some compulsory viewing to do this afternoon (it's Sunday morning here down-under). This TV show takes me back to being six years old (1959) and laying on the living room floor (Lino.....my parents couldn't afford carpet) and watching Casey and his fireman (I forget his screen name) get the Cannonball up and running.

Thank you so much again!!

Peter (Buco Australia)

Peter,
You are very welcome!
Bryce

If you ever to to Memphis, go north to 50 North Front Street in the downtown area, and stop at the huge modern Morgan Keegan Tower building.  Walk across the street towards the River, and up one block, and you will see an historical plaque next to the sidewalk.   The plaque explains that this is the spot where Casey Jones boarded the train for his historic run to death.  Few people seem to know that he boarded the engine in downtown Memphis. If you check Wikopedia, they have a nice color photo of the plaque.

Hard to feel sorry for Casey.  Was he really a hero?  He was intentionally trying to set a new speed record for the run to his destination in Mississippi,  and was running the train recklessly at the highest speeds possible!   (80 miles per hour).  He just loved setting new speed records, and people were placing bets on whether he could do it on this run.  THAT  is why he didn't have enough time to stop the train when he saw the other oncoming train. 

Mannyrock

He wasn't trying to set a record so much as he was trying to make up time, per dispatcher's orders.  Yes, he made some fool choices, and, yes, he was a hotdog, but we have to keep in mind that being On Time over-rode just about everything else at the time in the culture.  Official statements notwithstanding, the RR valued punctuality.  Whatever the officials may have said in CYA-mode, the expectation was lost time would be made up.  Jones was very much on-board (pardon the pun) with the expectation.  He liked to run fast, and he had been in trouble before, but he still had his job, and he still personified the culture.  He may not have been a hero in the sense his legend grew into, but he most certainly was a role model for his fellow engineers.  Had he not been, there would have been no song, no legend, and no memorial.

Hey Bryce:

Watched the first 5 episodes yesterday afternoon using the link you gave me......WOW!!!!

As a 6yr old I thought it was the greatest show on television......as a 68yr old I just sat there and "cringed"!!! It certainly isn't close to being "politically correct" in 2021. Those poor Indians!!!

And the acting.....did anyone actually ever get hit with a punch in the fist-fights???

And what is it with the jet black smoke coming out of the stack????? I never saw any wood-burning steamers belch black smoke.....only coal burning engines, and the "Cannonball" was a wood burner.

And those poor drivers......stopping the way Casey did by locking them up, and then hitting the reverse valve.....must have "flat-spotted" every wheel.

Oh well, it was great being a kid back in the 1950's, and things were nowhere near as complicated as they are today.

Bryce, thanks for the trip down memory lane.......

Peter (Buco Australia)