Railroad Partners, Inc. Motorcar Run and Fundraising Event on The Blacklands Railroad 10/18/2008 Greenville, TX to Mt. Vernon, TX and return

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Railroad Partners, Inc. Sponsors a Fundraising Excursion on the Blacklands RR.
By Leland Stewart, Excursion Coordinator

A budding new group called Railroad Partners, Inc. has been formed to promote the preservation of railroad corridors for future use as well as motorcar operations. While still in the early stages of formation, RPI has achieved success in organizing our first NARCOA motorcar excursion and fundraising event.

This fundraising event and excursion was held on October 18, 2008 on the Blacklands Railroad.  Myron Malone has been working to arrange for this excursion for over a year.  Our host was the President of the Blacklands RR, Mr. Wayne Defebaugh.  In addition to granting us track time, Wayne made arrangements for their headquarters, in the beautiful Sulphur Springs depot, to be open at our first and last rest breaks.

Our set on in Greenville, TX, started bright and early at 7:00 am with 16 motorcars and 2 hi-rails present.  The registration and inspections went well and we commenced the safety meeting at 8:30.  This made our departure about 15 minutes later than scheduled.  This morning was beautiful and promised a perfect weather day of bright sunshine, light wind, and temp's in the 70's.

We scheduled a safety stop in Commerce, TX to assess our progress and make sure everything was running well.  Our progress was greatly enhanced by having volunteer flaggers driving ahead and securing the busier highway crossings.  This allowed us to run without stopping and quickly make up the few minutes of our delayed departure.  The flagging continued to be a benefit to our schedule throughout the day.

After departing Commerce we encountered a Blacklands RR bridge crew, with whom we had joint track permits.  Upon our arrival, they cleared up at the next crossing and we continued on to Sulphur Springs.

The first rest stop was at Sulphur Springs, where the Blacklands is headquartered.  Mr Defebaugh, the Blacklands President, met us there and opened the depot office so we could use the restrooms.  After taking a group picture, we continued eastbound toward our lunch break at Mt. Vernon.  On the way we passed through several areas where the large tree on both sides of the ROW had grown together forming a solid canopy.  It was like going through green tunnels and was enjoyed by all.

Upon arrival at Mt. Vernon, we were pleasantly surprised by a number of local citizens who turned out to meet us.  Among the throng was the Mayor and the local newspaper editor.  We entertained them by turning the cars prior to the lunch break.  After turning, many of them walked the length of the consist visiting with the operators and riders.  Mt.Vernon made an excellent lunch stop with several nice eateries close to the tracks.

After lunch, we made a casual departure and rolled easily through the countryside heading westbound toward Greenville.  Again, the excellent flagging allowed us to run uninterrupted by those pesky automobiles.

We made our last rest stop in Sulphur Springs right on schedule.  After a nice break, which included perusing an ex-Reader steam locomotive sitting in pieces nearby, we prepared to complete our final leg of the trip.  At this point Mr. Murphy stepped in.  My motorcar, a Woodings CBL, suffered sudden starter failure. Fortunately, Bob Hussey of Oklahoma City, OK came to the rescue with his Chevy Suburban Hi-rail.  The transition to the bar was so seamless that most of the group had no idea that anyone had broke down.

We rolled into Greenville shortly before sunset and concluded a fantastic trip.  Set off went smoothly and Myron Malone and I verified that everyone was off the property with in our track permitted time.

My sincere thanks go to Myron Malone for doing the local legwork to organize the excursion, Wayne Defebaugh for offering his railroad to us, Richard Balzen and Pam Scott for the flagging, and all of the operators who performed so well.

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