> If so, the portion of that route between Nashville and Atlanta was operated at
> one time by the NC&StL. Was the NC&StL a fallen flag by the time the ACL #666
> traversed this route? If not, should that road have been included in the
> routing, or did the car traverse the L&N to the C&EI at Evansville by another
> route?
John and Others:
I only saw ACL 666 in the 1963 and 1965 time period and cannot answer your
question with any factual evidence. Because of the guard in civilian
clothing, I and others suspect this car was transporting material used in
the nuclear weapons program.
When the first movements took place is a question that I cannot answer. My
only personnel encounter with ACL 666 occurred one May 1963 morning. As I
often did during school holidays, I was walking down the CUS platform
between tracks 26 and 28, then longest one. CB&Q Train 11, the combined
Kansas City and Nebraska Zephyrs was on 26. Since 1958, this train also
carried the mail formerly handled by the Coloradoan, so train 11 often
exceeded eighteen cars in length. It usually was assigned four E units in
those days.
My purpose was to photograph the train. As I approached the end of the mail
cars and the motors, a person dressed in a business suit, overcoat and
fedora stepped off the unassuming and as of yet unnoticed ACL 666. With
great authority, he directed me to turn and not return. I could tell he was
not a railroader from his dress and mannerisms. I always wonder what he
carried under that oversized coat?
Needless to say, as the intrepid raifans we some times are, I found a second
and unnoticed route and got my pictures.
Ed DeRouin
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