Darn cold down here in Florida.... never got above 53 degrees today. That isn't all that cold of course considering how cold it can get in Colorado this time of year, still, if I wanted cold I would of stayed back there or up north. Looks like it may warm up and clear off by the end of the weekend at least. Until then I'll just have to suffer and wear real shoes and keep a jacket handy.

    That is pretty much what I did today too. Except that I didn't actually put real shoes and socks on, preferring to carry on with the boat shoes I love to wear. A bit chilly at times, but I'll live. Spent a lot of the day just hanging out at the trailer reading, playing on the computer and watching the wind blow the tree leaves off and into the lake. Finally had enough of that and drove over to the local mall to walk around a little bit and take in a movie. Went and watched the newest '007 - Bond' film Skyfall. A perfectly good movie over all, certainly a decent 'Boys Night Out' flick, though it might of had a bit to much of a plot for that. I know a lot of my friends have seen it and really liked it, but it was only a so-so movie for me. Not sure why that is exactly... will have to think about it a little bit more. Still glad to have seen it of course, but certainly not at the top of my list for movies this year.

    Had to go pick up some banana's and tortilla's afterwards, but ended up back at the trailer soon after that. No dance going on here in Tallahassee this weekend, indeed no dances here until December rolls around. Will have to look for something to do tomorrow, something that might keep me inside or at least in the truck and out of the cold. In the mean time here are a few photo's from my trip over to the Southern Railroad Museum in Kennasaw Georgia.

Southern Railroad Museum - Nov. 13, 2012

The museum was chuck full of displays from that period just prior to the Civil War and then immediately afterwards. For me though the best part was a recreation of part of 'Glover Machine Works', a business in the area that started out doing just machine work and repair, including on locomotives and cars, and ended up manufacturing their own cars and locomotives. Designing and building mostly small industrial type engines, they built over 200 while they were in business. This was one of their first engines that they sold for $3,000 to a coal mine in Tennessee. When the company went broke they sent a guy to go and repossess it. He and a couple other guys managed to do it by handlaying rails down a road for 20 miles and hitching a team of mules to the engine.  They would lay out about 50 feet of track, move the engine, pick up the rails from behind and lay another 50 feet of track. You have to admire their fortitude.

Glover made all parts of a locomotive other than the actual boiler. They ordered them from other boiler making companies up north. Part of making parts was to first build a pattern of it in wood so that they could use it to form a mold in sand that they could then cast a metal part from. These are actual wood pattern molds for various parts that they would of had to make.

Part of the pattern making scene in the museum. One of the highest paying jobs in the shop was that of 'pattern maker'. Each piece had to be an exact replica of the piece and had to be made so that it could be easily cast and then machined afterwards.

I hadn't really ever thought of it before, but some parts had to be made to a size that was bigger or smaller than the finished part in order to take into account changes in the size of the cast piece as the metal cooled down or as another piece was welded on.

The whole company finally became electrified and no longer had to rely on it's own steam power. I was amazed to find out that the whole machine shop was powered off of this one 30 hp electric motor. Power was still transferred from overhead belts and pulleys even after the change over.

One of the long bed lathes that the machine shop had.

A smaller multi speed lathe in the front and a small milling machine in the background. All of the machines are original, though they have all been restored to their original factory finish.

An electrical metal cutting bandsaw.

A small stationary drill press.

The primary display in the whole museum is the original 'General' locomotive. A great example of an 'Atlantic' style engine, it is called that because of it's wheel arrangement, 4-4-0. The most common type of engine ever made the numbers stand for 4 wheels in the first truck, 4 main drive wheels and 0 wheels behind the main drive wheels supporting the weight of the firebox. What makes this locomotive famous though is that it was stolen one day during the Civil War by a group of Union spies and soldiers. They took it from it's stop in front of the Lacy Hotel in Big Shanty, the original name of Kennasaw, while it was stopped for food, water and fuel. Heading north they managed to get nearly to the Tennessee border by cutting telegraph wires, pulling up rails and setting structures on fire. But in the end it was the relentless pursuit of them by a confederate train conductor that finally did them in. They were all finally caught and put on trial. Seven of them were hung as spies while the rest (14?) were imprisoned in the south. All of them, except for the one civilian leader of the group, were later awarded the new 'Congressional Medal of Honor'.

There are many books written about the 'Great Train Chase' as well as a couple of movies including one put out by Disney back in the 60's. It starred Fess Parker as the Union guy in charge of the whole plan.