An ex-Southern Railway fireman named H. E. "Ed" Hulsey has hit on a novel way of curing an ulcer: he built a railroad in his back yard.
He doesn't guarantee that it will work for any ulcer sufferer, of course. But it did for him."
His railroad, a miniature steam-powered line, runs past the back door of his home near Chattanooga, Tenn., just south of the state line in Lakeview, Ga.
Ed and Jimmy drive the locomotive sitting on the tender. Track runs past Hulsey's home which serves as a convenient "depot." |
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"Actually," he says with a chuckle, "1 feel like I was born with the idea of some day building my own railroad." But he recalls that an interest in steam engines first sparked the dream when he was really about 10 years old. His father at that time operated a steam-powered sawmill and several steam threshing machines.
Steam engines, Ed says, held the same kind of fascination for him that jet engines hold for some of today's children. ,
Often picturing himself at the throttle of a huge locomotive, in full control of the surging power that pulled his speeding train along the track, he hoped some day to work on a railroad.
Ed became a carpenter when he grew up. But he did realize, briefly, the wish to be a railroad man.
In 1943 and 1944 he fired on locomotives of Southern's CNO&TP line between Chattanooga and Oak- dale, Tenn. He remembers the experience with a warm feeling for railroads and railroaders.
But" the building trades also needed men to fill wartime demands for defense construction and he decided to give up railroading and return to his trade.
He now works as a construction foreman. The notion to become a spare-time back-yard railroader came to him in June, 1958, when he was looking around for some off-hour diversion to ease work-day tensions which were aggravating an ulcer. Long a subscriber to various railroad magazines, he began searching through them for a picture of an old steam locomotive which he could build in miniature.
Hardly a day passed between the time he decided to build a train and the beginning of his venture. With only a few tools, he fashioned several small parts from plans he drew himself. Soon he was laying out major plans, scaled three inches to a foot.
Some of the car and locomotive parts and all of the sections of 8-pound rail over which his train runs he bought ready-made from a miniature railroad supplier in California. He had the wheels cast, axles turned and the locomotive boiler made locally. Bells, whistles, gauges, etc., were picked up from friends and at junk shops. But most of the construction and all of the assembly he accomplished with hand tools, a grinder, a blowtorch and an electric welder. Track ties were made of scrap wood and he cleared most of the right of way with hand sickle and garden shears.
With rolling stock larger than on most scale-model railroads, Ed Hulsey's "Back Yard Limited" literally is limited in more ways than one. At present, it has only 700 feet of track. And although its only car thus far a 22 foot-long hopper-suggests it is a freight hauler, it is strictly a passenger road.
A conscientious assistant engineer, Jimmy is the only one other than "Pop" (Ed's name among his grandchildren) who knows how to operate the powerful little engine. |
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The locomotive, a 4-6-2 Pacific-type, weighs about 2,200 pounds, is 14 feet long and about 4 feet high. Engine and tender are painted green to resemble Southern Railway steamers of by-gone years. The initials "CNO&TP" lettered on the side of the engine cab show Ed's loyalty to the Southern line for which he worked. And its number, "1495," is that of the first passenger locomotive on which he fired.
Burning coal, coke or wood (he uses mostly wood "because it doesn't smoke up the place" ) , the engine will develop about 10 h.p. It takes about an hour to build up the minimum 40 pounds of steam pressure needed to operate the locomotive.
Ed estimates his little iron horse could "gallop" down the rails at around 40 miles an hour. But he can't test its top speed until he adds more track to his "system." Future plans call for an additional 3,000 or 4,000 feet in ~ large circle.
Other additions will come first, however. "Right now," he says, "I'm getting ready to build a gondola car." He hopes to build two more cars after that.
At the rate this passenger hauling road is growing in popularity, it will need even more equipment. But that will have to wait until he can somehow increase his working capital. (Ed hauls only "deadhead" passengers -his grandchildren and their friends. )
How much has it cost him to cure an ulcer? 'Well," he says; "I've been offered $2,000 for the train and that would barely pay for materials, much less for my labor." He admits this may be a high price to pay for treating an ulcer-"but then how much fun can you have with a bottle -of medicine?"