3229 Westonia Drive Chattanooga, TN., 37412-1361 April 27, 2007 Dear Mrs. Cunningham: I don't remember now just what I wrote to you--but, T am delighted to have made your acquaintance over the telephone and through correspondence. I am so glad your contact in Virginia, I think it was, who saw my letter to the editor in an issue of the publication of the Illinois Central Historical Society. As it happened, it turned out in our conversation, that I had another in the current issue, and I had also mentioned the 743rd ROB in it I was very pleased to get the material you sent me. 1 will write in more detail later. I don't have it in front of me, but will say now, as I type this, I don't remember some of the officers shown, but well remember others who are pictured. I certainly will elaborate later. One reason for this missive is to send you a copy of this little essay I put together a few days ago. It is for publication in the next issue of THE DIXIE FLYER, the publication of the NC&StI Preseivation Society. Not much detail of the 743rd in it, but it (the 743rd) did play a role in my musings on March 30, 2007-that being the 63rd birthday of our oldest son, and child, and I got the news of his having been born while I was at Camp Robinson, near Little Rock, of course Also, will report that I talked to Oscar Plummer the other day and he said that I had told Mr. McKechnie about him Will throw this in while I am at it. I said in my "musings" essay that I made two other trips home to Middle Tennessee while I was at Camp Robinson. On one of these, while still on the NC&StL, near Bruceton, TN., the engine of the train I was on developed some kind of trouble, with the result that the train was delayed too long for me to make my Rock Island connection in Memphis. 1 remember wiring my commanding officer, Capt. Strommen, by Western Union, sent from the NC&StI, train order office at Bruceton, that on account of engine trouble I would not be back in camp by midnight, but would be there by reville the next morning. (It was common practice for Western Union telegrams to be sent from and received at the railroad depots, in small towns). While f did miss the Rock Island connection in Memphis, I was able to catch a Missouri Pacific train from Memphis to Little Rock. Tt arrived at Little Rock around midnight, maybe a bit later, and I had to sit in the MOP depot the rest of the night, until bus service to camp began the next morning. 1 did make it to camp by reville, but pruvably was dragging some during the day. Had I made my Rock Island connection I would have made it to camp around 9 PM or so. TI did have to pay my fare on the MOP train, but the world didn't stop over that. Will be ia eouch eons or su Le, tide PAO _ okeck very sincerely, fark Wo PS: The NC&StL Preservation Society has its annual convention here next month. I am to be the banquet speaker. It is a fairly new organization. I was 2 primary speaker at its first convention, at Sra TN.» in 2003. 2 hours without notes. The two Pee ae Nie T 220%cackarearsaton, MTnES,eeteue poten, Tee Was tol rwards "you really made that railroad come alive!MUSINGS ON MARCH 30, 2007 MARK S. WOMACK As my earlier article entitled MUSINGS ON DECEMBER 31,i 2005, might indicate, I like to reminense about bygone days, and relive them in my memories. I had the same type experience on March 30, 2007. That happened to be the birthday of Betty's and my oldest son. and child, which was his 63rd. As the day progressed, J had had several moments of recalling that ephocal event in the life of our family. Then it hit me, that on March 30, 1944, the day of his birth. I got the news of it while IT was stationed at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, which is near Little Rock. I was in the 743rd Railway Operating Battalion, and we were stationed there to take what was called “Technical Training". There were a number of these railway battalions, whose job, in war zones as might be imagined, was to haul various types of war material ana supplies to the front, from seaports, etc. Many of the men in these outfits were experienced railroaders,, but many were not. Not only were we to polish our railroading skills, but also to work as an organized military unit. We had taken basic military training at Camp Plauche, La.; near New Orleans. There I could watch Southern Pacific oil burners pull trains across the Huey Long Bridge, the camp being right under it. This part of my article is to give the reader a bit of background about railway operating battalions. My musings on March 30, 2007, dealt with my trip home after the birth of my son. J was given a three day pass, which wasn't too long, but it was enough time to permit me to make a short visit "home" for this purpose, which was, certainly. very important to me. I put "home" in quotations, because, while Murfreesboro is my home town, I had used Bell Buckle as my address on army papers, etc., because Betty was there with her parents. Roth Murfreesboro and Bell Buckle were within the range of distance to permit me to make this short visit. The "GIs" in the 743rd had been given badges to identify them as members of the 743rd, and conductors on Rock Island passenger trains honored them as "transportation" for 743rd members, for both travel in connection with the training as well as for personal travel. The Arkansas Division of the Rock Island, of which Little Rock was the division headquarters, was the site of the "on the job" part of our technical training. As a start on my brief trip home, J rode Rock Island passenger train No. 50 from Little Rock to Memphis, about a 4 hour trip. No. 50 left Little Rock about 4 PM. In Memphis, T walked from the Grand Central Station, used along with other railroads by the Rock Island, to the Union Station, used along with other railroads by the NC&StL. This was a two block jaunt. From Memphis to Nashville, I was on my home road, and that portion of my trip involved using night passenger train No. 101, Memphis to Bruceton and No. 1, Bruceton to Nashville. This was the same train, it changed numbers at Bruceton when leaving the P&M Division and entering the Nashville Division.No. 101-1 had two Puliman cars,: and I had decided I would use a Pullman berth if I could obtain one. These berths were reserved, ahead of time usually, but any available up to the departure of the train could be obtained and used. If a revenue passenger wished to use Pullman service, it took a first class railroad ticket to ride, and a Pullman ticket to sit down or to lie down. A railroad pass was the equivilant of a first clas! ticket. First class tickets were higher than tickets good in coaches only. I had entered the army in December, 1943, and had an annual pass good on the Chattanooga Division of the NC&StL, my home division. However, at that time, I did not have enough service to qualify for a system annual pass. In anticipation of this trip home, I had ordered, through the chief dispatcher in Chattanooga, a trip pass, i.e., one good for one round trip, between Memphis and Nashville, and had this pass prior to the need to use it. Soon after my arrival at the Memphis Union Station, I went to a ticket window and inquired if there were any upper berths available for Nashville. I may have opted for an upper berth for economic reasons. There was, indeed, an upper available, so I purchased my Pullman ticket, showing my railroad pass. The ticket seller would need to know that I had proper railroad transportation to be eligible for a Pullman ticket. After satisfying himself that I did have that eligibility, he sold me a Pullman ticket calling for Upper 7 Car 7. I paid him the Pullman fare of $2.29, the latter 9¢ being for Federal tax on railroad and Pullman tickets. I was able to board car 7 and make myself comfortable in upper 7 sometime before the departure of the train. That was the custom in those days when trains having Pullman cars departed from the initial station of the car later than what would be a convenient loading time for the passengers. No. 101 1eft Memphis about 10 30 P.M. and I was able to board car 7 sometime before that. The number 7 was the identifying number of that particular car *line", it had nothing to do with anything else such as the number of cars in the train. The car was spotted by itself. In due time, it would be switched into the consist of No.101. At the proper time, No. 101 made its departure, as I dozed or slept in Upper 7 car 7. X do not remember much about the trip during the night, but No. 1 arrived in Nashville about 6 30 A. M. The next train south vas 4 or & hours later, and it did not stop in Bell Buckle. My brother, dohn, was working first trick operator at Smyrna, and he had a car I could borrow after he got off duty. I caught a Greyhound bus from Nashville to Smyrna and was soon reunited with that member of my family. During my stay with John, I did some of his operator's work. ‘This included my sending to the dispatcher the signature of the conductor of No. 21, the Nashville to Cowan local freight train, of several Form "31" orders vhich the conductor had signed. Such signatures were necessary to be obtainedand transmitted to the dispatcher before the orders could be made “complete” and delivered. The conductor of No. 21 that day vas B. L. Tucker, about whom I have written before, and have more incidents on the “drawing board" in which he will be mentioned. When I sent the signatures on the "31" orders to the dispatcher, he made no comment about the operator being different. The dispatcher was Claude H. Pack,: whose path intersected with mine many times over the years. The dispatchers were then located in Cowan where they had been moved from Chattanooga a few weeks previously in connection with the installation of the CTC system. Such train orders were “not long for this world” on the NC&StL Chattanooga Divison, and had already been discontinued between Stevenson and Sherwood. More on that later. However, when I gave those signatures, the operator at Murfreesboro, Aline Isbell,said “That sounds like Mark!", which indeed it was. I said into the dispatcher's circuit, "It is Mark.” I may have said I was on a brief leave, explaining why. After John got off duty at 3 PM, we drove to Murfreesboro in his car, which I promptly borrowed and headed for Bell Buckle. There I got to see Betty and our newly born son. I thought of all this on March 30, 2007. I don't remember just when I went back to Nashville, nor how I got there, in making my way back to Little Rock and Camp Robinson. I do remember boarding No. 2 (which became No. 102 in Bruceton) and remember sitting in the coach a few minutes prior to the departure of No. 2. I wanted to get a Pullman berth to Memphis. I may have inquired at the ticket office in the Nashville Union Station about a berth to Memphis and was told the forms were already at the train, etc., and to ask the Pullman conductor. Maybe he wasn’t at the door of one of the Pullman cars when I boarded the train, and therefore went into the coach for a few minutes. I do remember while sitting in the coach seeing some friends from my high school days, and chatting with them briefly. I do remember going into the Pullman car which was behind the coach,in which I had been sitting, and asking the Pullman conductor about*berth to Memphis, showing him my railroad trip pass. He did have an upper available and I arranged to occupy it. As we were concluding the transaction, including my paying him th> $2.29 Puliman fare, I remember him making a quip about Pullman conductors and operators. My trip back to camp was uneventful, and I do not recall any of it. I would have used Rock Island No. 45 from Memphis to Little Rock, and I was back at the camp at the proper time. = mused all of this on March 30, 2007, the 63rd birthday of our son. I made two other trips home before going overseas. On my next trip home, a two week furlough, I went to Cowan to look over the new cfc system. [ will save that recollection for later. 4-14-07