Author Topic: Ride the 2-footer, Georgia style  (Read 6655 times)

Ed Lecuyer

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Ride the 2-footer, Georgia style
« on: June 22, 2009, 08:37:48 PM »
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Ride the 2-footer, Georgia style has been converted from the pre-July 2008 WW&F Discussion Forum.
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o anderson wrote:
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Interesting YouTube of a B&W movie from Ft Benning in Georgia. - 1940s

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-BTtncKnS9k&feature=related

Mike Fox replied:
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Thanks for posting. One of those Quarter Master Engines was still on display on Ft. Benning as of 1996. Nice to see it in action. And they must have used soft ties. driving those spikes looked way to easy.
Mike

Wayne Laepple replied:
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Yeah -- did you notice the spike driver's wide-legged stance and how he choked up on the hammer handle? He was a pro!!

medry replied:
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Very nice film! This is 60cm gauge equipment originally built to be shipped to Europe during WWI to be used on the light railway networks there. Steam locos were built by Baldwin, Davenport, and Vulcan. The armistice came before most of this stuff could make it over there, leaving a lot of it literally sitting in crates on the docks, so 60cm railroads were set up for service on a handful of Army camps/forts. The Ft Benning railroad was in place between 1919 and 1946, reaching 27 miles at its maximum. In the film, two locos are identifiable, #s 5 and 11, but records of the origination and disposition of them are incomplete. Lots of good information on this in "Narrow Gauge to No Mans Land".

I always wondered why none of this was surplus equipment ever made it to Maine. Probably it was just too small to be usable in any regular service, plus by 1919 business was starting to drop off on the 2-footers.

Bill Sample replied:
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A year or so ago this railroad was discussed.  It was great to see it brought to life in the film clip as my father had told me of his experiences riding the "Chattahoochee Choo-Choo."

Mike Fox replied:
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Had to dig through my files but I found it. This is the loco on display at Ft. Benning.
Ed Lecuyer
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