The Last Run of the Iron Horse

March 24, 2013 at 12:02 am (Georgia & Florida Railroad)
Tags: Bo Dell Mead, C. J. Bush, Douglas GA, Georgia and Florida railroad, H. T. Sowell, Nashville GA, Pridgen GA, Ray City GA

On March 24, 1954 engine number 507 was the last steam locomotive to make the run down the line of the Georgia & Florida Railroad which passed through Ray City, GA.   The train, photographed below at its last passage through Nashville, GA,was manned by: Engineer Bo Dell Mead, of Douglas, GA; Fireman C. J. Bush, Pridgen, GA; and Conductor H. T. Sowell, of Douglas, GA.

Engine of the Georgia & Florida Railroad at Nashville, GA, March 24, 1954. Image courtesy of http://berriencountyga.com/

In Ray City, there was was the big wooden water tower which provided water for the old steam engines.  This tower stood just south of Main Street,on the east side of the tracks, next to Marvin Purvis’ Grocery Store.

 

Related:

• Rays Mill Wins Route for the Georgia & Florida Railroad
• Ray’s Mill has Arrived
• Whangdoodled on Panama Canal Contract, Billy Oliver put in a Bid to Construct G & F Railroad Through Ray City
• The Georgia and Florida Construction Company
• 1910 Train Wreck in Valdosta, GA
• M. W. Henderson and the Wreck of the G & F
• Luckie Stop at Ray City
• 1910 Train Wreck Gave Charlie Taylor A Fat Lip
• Mayhaw Lake Resort at Ray City, GA
• Southern Georgia: Railroad Pamphlet
• 1914 Box Ball Alley ~ Mayhaw Lake at Rays Mill, GA
• 1922 Ray City Bus Service was Competition for the G & F
• Batts Goins ~ Tie Chopper
• Railroad Horror! 1888 Train wreck kills John T. Ray and 30-odd others
• General Levi J. Knight ~ Railroad Tycoon