February 20, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 20, 2023, target practice.
Five years ago today: February 20, 2019,thorn apple & henbane.
Nine years ago today: February 20, 2015, a headache since 2003.
Random years ago today: February 20, 2011, how to sneak in.

           It’s 5:30AM and icy, so if you see a picture of anything in Plant City, it means I took the morning off in that town. The birds love the free seeds on a chill like this all fluffed up and singing their little hearts out. I’ve got disk 3 of Dillinger in the slot, he’s still in the Mexican mining camp and has not yet done the wild thing with Rosie. She’s playing it cool, knowing he might be her ticket into the USA. They’re so cute when they’re young, but Rosie may be getting up there. And old John, he doesn’t know much about how women think. He’s playing it the hard way.

           This is where I parked in Plant City. Lucky me, I finally got to the train museum when it was open. It’s small, maybe a half-hour tour, but I recommend it. What’s there is not seen in other museums and, thankfully, this place is not geared to kids. You know those pump handcarts? I saw them only in cartoons until today. They have a real unit that looks in perfect working order, see photo below.

           The information says these carts were dangerou and many men were killed on them. The could make 8 mph on a level grade, about enough for each line crew that was responsible of roughly 10-12 miles of track. One problem is they were hard to operate and the crews often arrived at the worksite already exhausted. These were apparently made by non-railroad shops and had limited braking power. It says the crews often had to get out and push the contraption up a grade, then hop on and ride it down the other side, using improvised braking systems such as old railroad spikes.
           There is a remarkably good toy train display, though a bit to high off the floor for most kids, who must share the single step stool. The sign above says “viewing” and refers to a small tower next to the museum. Just two stories, I climbed the stairs hoping to see something. Nope, it’s pretty useless, but I did see these 90-degree track crossings. Normally of no interest, I first saw them on a website from Australia, so I’ve called them “Australian crossings”. This is the only other time I’ve seen them and they are just a rusted display. The museum is still being worked on. The price is right, it’s free and there is a small souvenier stand. It warmed considerably, so I walked around the area.

           They have a caboose, but it is closed to the public. The interior reminds me of the shacks I was raised in, with a wood stove and bunks. My memory played tricks on me, I found the saloon where the girl’s had the rumble, but confused it with another pub in Arcadia. It was not “The Great American Bar”, but the “Silver Dollar”. Here’s another character self-test. Did I misremember because I’m getting on, or because unlike my detractors, I’ve been too many places to possibly remember. I found this ad online that showed the exact corner of the bar, so I placed two arrows to show where JZ & I were parked at the time. Yes, in one bound, she leaped over that bar to the floor on the right.
           What’s more, that’s not and empty space behind the bar. She also had to clear coolers and racks and do it from a standing start. As it warme up around noon, I did a five-block tour of the downtown. It’s got an older district of small shops. One which I found impressive was a Lego outlet. They have tons of supplies, including some model tanks that got my eye. A Panther, a Sherman, and a Big Willie.surprisingly accurate for being made from toy building blocks. The gal behind the counter was impressively sharp, she’s going to make it.

           Across the street I found a bakery, practice your Spanish. There is a huge proportion of Latinos in the area which comprise a big part of the agricultural workforce. Hence, most of the service shops from food to tire repair are staffed by non-English workers. Other than a knick-knack shop around the corner, there is not a lot to see and do in Plant City. My total time there was two hours. AI was off by 9 miles in the distance, it is only 24 miles away. I took severals side roads with names like “Old Mulberry Rd” and passed many a small roadside business now gone and shuttered up. It reflects the haphazard ways the old road in Florida were just paved over with no real plan.
           Here’s the best shot I could ge tof the schematic showing Florida railway lines in 1958. Including hundreds of small spur lines you don’t see from this distance, it was possible to travel to almost any town in the state back then. I estimate the number at over 100, while today there is one. Amtrak, and is nearly a hundred miles to the nearest station. Driving a motorcycle as I did so many years, it is hard to find a country lane that does not cross several sets of abandoned railway tracks. The distribution of these tracks is mystifying, growing more dense toward the Atlantic coast which was almost uninhabited at the time.

Picture of the day.
Texas A&M Kappa Alpha Theta.
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           Let’s take another look at the railroad hand carts. They had several versions, the ones I recognized were the type where two men rocked the handles. The plackard said they had to push the cart to get it running and then jump aboard. Most of the casualties were from trains running into the carts and they were not allowed out in foggy weather. Every few miles there was a small siding where the cart could be manhandled off the rails and one man was designated to walk ahead and look around bends for oncoming trains. It further stated that most accidents were hits from behind. Figure that one out.

           This photo shows the “pump-handle” style and it looked in good operating condition. Other items in the museum that I’ve never seen before were sets of uniform buttons. Seems there was a rigid hierarchy with the conductors and engineers at the top. These buttons were insignias of rank. One photo of the original cashiers desk showed a revolver at the ready. They had a non-working display of one of those grid panels showing where the trains were, connected by extra sets of uninsulated telegraph wire. That had a computer simulation but I could not get near enough as it was the popular item.

           Below is another curiosity. They are small spikes with a number on the head. The description says they were placed under the rails as a date marker on the railroad ties. Like most similar museums this one devotes no attention to the railway ties, which were an independent technology in themselves. Nor is there much information on-line. But I read once how the material had to be very exact and that every fifth tie was special wood needed to meet track standards. No museum I know of have anything about the ties.
           The railroad refers to them as sleepers or crossties, with a lifespan of around seven years. The trend is toward concrete ties which are less flexible than wood yet offer a smoother ride due to even quality. Today’s wooden ties w ere invented in 1820. They are pressure-cooked in a preservative. Another overlooked factor is the metal plate, or tie anchor the spikes are driven through. They prevent “north-south drift” and spread out the train weight over a larger area.

           By 3:00PM I was at home and discovered I have some bad saw blades. That matching set of boxes was shallow, so I didn’t want a large kerf cut for the lids. I found two really thin blades, and chose the thinnest. Bad move, I did not test it first, and more burned that cut. Since it started out okay for half a cut, I was committed to using it for both. As I get further into cutting these boxes, I more of the opinion that economy is not worth it. You’d think a cheaper took would just be less convenient or something, but it’s beginning to look like only top-notch (and expensive) saws make the grade. I learned what a cat-ear cut is today.
           If you look at some blades, the teeth zig-zag around the circumference. When making a slice, this does not make a flat groove, but leaves a pattern that looks like cat-ears, you can look that up yourself. If you want it flat, you need a “Number One Cut”. I did not think it made a difference until I tried. I’m gettng closer to just shelling out for the best dado set I can afford and get it over with.

           Settle down, yes, I’ll get to it. Festus Tuesday. We moved things up an hour so we’d be done before the evening chill. It was and okay episode called “Tara”, but it was not a western. We want Matt shooting up the bad guys and such. Have we already seen all the good ones with real action? This time it was a soap with Dooley and some bank robber’s widow. The bad guy was L.Q. Jones, with perfect hair and an uncanny resemblence to Charles Bronson. Yep, the later episodes followed a downhill path away from the classic Hollywood cowboy image people wanted to see.
           Another Hollywood story out today was Jody Foster, 58 years in the movie industry. It was about her difficulty keeping her life out of the public eye. That I can identify with, but not for the same reasons. She wants to be picky how she is approached, I like to be fussy about by whom. Later I watched a documentary on Guyana, the area having disputes with Venzuela. The border was decided by a conference in Paris where Venezuela was blocked from attending. It showed pictures of Angel Falls, where I visited some 30 years ago. When it was still Angel Falls, I like to say. What an incredible but primitive area. It’s downfall will be that it is the oldest large exposed terrain known, and full of such things a gold.

Last Laugh