BSM May 1937 Schedule

[SSW9389]

The following is transcribed from a print on the wall at the Arkansas Railroad Museum. This shows the schedule of Number 3 The Blue Streak Merchandise from St. Louis to Pine Bluff. Train Number 43 was the BSMs connection out of Pine Bluff and extended the BSM's reach to Dallas and Fort Worth. Note the Jonesboro connection to Memphis as the BSM's Less than Carload Lot (LCL) business competed directly with trucks. Shreveport was served by a connecting train out of Lewisville, AR down the "K" Branch. Train No. 43 went to Fort Worth and Dallas was served by stub train No. 343 connecting with No. 43 at Addison, TEXAS.

The Blue Streak*
Number 3 and Number 43
May 1937 Schedule

Lv. St. Louis 4 P. M.
Lv East St. Louis 7:10 P. M.
Ar Memphis 7:45 A. M.
(from Jonesboro by truck)
Ar Pine Bluff 5:15 A. M.
Ar Texarkana 11:45 A. M.
Ar Shreveport 12:50 P. M.
Ar Dallas 1:00 A. M. } 2nd A. M.
Ar Ft. Worth 1:30 A.M. } 2nd A. M.

*No. 3 Merchandise only; No. 43 South of Pine Bluff, Merchandise and Carloads.

[SSW9389]

Here is an early image of the Blue Streak Merchandise. It is likely from a page from Cotton Belt News. It is from the collection of C. W. Standefer a Cotton Belt Engineer who kept a scrapbook of his railroad photos and newspaper clippings. Note in the caption that Standefer wrote that he was the fireman on the first Blue Streak through Commerce, TEXAS to Fort Worth. This would have been in December 1935 and the train was known as #43 at the time. Stub train #343 would have made the trip from Addison, TEXAS to Dallas to deliver any freight brought in by #43.

[BSMFF71]

Greetings and a very happy New Year All!

My experience with the Blue Streak Merchandise began in 1971, as a brand new brakeman at Illmo, MO.  In order to work the BSM south out of Valley Junction, I had to, first, work north from Illmo.  We usually had a trip with little delay up the Chester sub; double track except for one single-track bridge and a long stretch from Raddle Jct., through Chester IL, across the Kaskaskia river, and ending at Kellogg Jct. where the 'Mike 'n' Ike' RR crossed the MP mainline at Flinton.  It was smooth sailing up the double track main all the way to 'GM&O' where that railroad crossed ours about three miles south of Dupo.  The struggle began there to eventually get to Valley Jct. and either leave our train on the main for the A&S or the TRRA, or put it away in Cotton Belt yard.  We often sat at 'GM&O' (later to be termed 'ICG' crossing) for hours upon hours, sometimes three trains deep, waiting for our turn to sprint toward Valley Junction. 

Our easier trips yarded out on the mainline, in 'Cotton Belt #4 rail.'  Those trains were left there for an A&S crew to drag into their next-door yard or for a TRRA crew to take to Madison or to another connecting line (N&W, B&O, PRR or NYC).  Our job was done as soon as the 'carryall' with a yard clerk driver, came to pick up the rear-end crew at Jerome Lane, then drive north, around (then) Parks Airport, to pick up the headend crew.  Our big concern on those run-through trains was if there would be enough delay for the conductor to show, to add a 'short hour' into our pay for the trip.  According to agreement, if 31 minutes delay occurred after arriving at the final terminal point (mile post 3, just south of Highway 157 at Cahokia)  then the crew was entitled to a full hours pay for at least 31 minutes of 'final terminal delay.'  Those old conductors had a sharp pencil ! 

The BSM began for me at Valley Jct. Yard, where we away-from-home crews stayed at a venerable old two-story frame building called 'the beanery.'  The call boy (clerk) delivered our call to us in person and put the paper in our hand wherever he found us. Some may have been downstairs at the 24-hour café with it's horseshoe-shaped counter.  Other railroaders were found in the TV room where there was an eternal card game going.  The rest of us were found in bed, in one of the small cubicle rooms upstairs that lined a long hallway; a community bathroom, right in the middle.  The rooms were about 8' x 8'; quite bare with only an army cot, a wall mirror above a small shelf, with a wall outlet below.   There was a light bulb in the ceiling, and the most important accommodation of all--a 110v a/c unit in the outward facing window.  I was always found there in bed, my first summer of railroading, after many hot daylight hours, or an all-nighter on a northbound freight out of Illmo. 

You thought I'd forgotten about the Blue Streak... No way!   The BSM was usually called at Valley Jct. for about 5:30pm.  Getting called for 'The Streak" was as good as it got!  It was a short train with lots of power, and it was the 'hottest' train on the railroad!  I could usually count on being home by 10 pm.  As a new brakeman, I mostly worked the head end.  I walked just fifty yards from 'the Beanery' to the engine tracks where our power was made up and put my 'grip' in the cab.  When the 'hoghead' and fireman were ready, I walked back to the switch to the lead.  I pressed the button on the pole speaker to talk to the yardmaster for instructions.  "BSM power ready to come off the pit," was usually my input.  The YM either told us to stay put, or come back and get on (usually) nine rail. Sometimes we were instructed, "thru the Elvis," which was a tight double crossover between eight and nine rails.

Once the 'blue flag' on our track was down, I coupled us onto our waiting BSM cars using hand signals.  Radio was not portable yet in the early '70s.  The engine and the caboose (sometimes) were radio equipped.  Hand signals were essential for communication in that day.   While some trainmen were sloppy or just lazy, I prided myself in giving big clear hand signals that gave no doubt what I needed the engineer to do.  That was the least I could do.  When coupled to our train (usually a few auto parts cars ahead of the 'pigs") I cut in the air.  Meanwhile, the flagman had walked to the caboose, inspecting our train as he went.  There, he waited as a car man watched the air climb to 90 psi.  That did not take long on the 'Streak' because the air hoses were usually new and the train was relatively short.  With enough air, the carman instructed our 'hog head' to set the brakes.  The carman rode his scooter from the head end to caboose, then called for release of the train brakes.  Another ride back to the head end saw that all pistons were in.  The 'highball' was given by the carman, releasing the BSM to the Cotton Belt yardmaster.  We were told to pull up to the signal at VJ interlocking.  By the time we had moved that far, the signal was already green, and our trip on the BSM began.  The train pulled out of the yard slowly, and the conductor swung onto the caboose right in front of the tower.  Either the flagman or yardmaster radioed the head end of another successful pickup. The BSM was off and running!

If a train occupied #4 rail, we would cross over onto #2 or #3, immediately picking up speed to 40 mph as soon as our cab was on the main.  Otherwise, it was a drag through Cotton Belt #4 at 10 mph until the caboose was on the main at Jerome Lane.  The BSM usually saw nothing but 'green' all the way through Dupo.  A 'green' signal at 'GM&O' told us the Chester dispatcher knew we were coming.   Our trip was 60 mph  except for a couple of 50 mph stretches on single track. 

At Gale yard we began the ascent up toward Thebes bridge around snaking curves. A mile or so from the Mississippi bridge, at "KK" crossover, we radioed Illmo, "BSM by KK."  That put the outbound crew in motion to jump in the 'carryall' and meet our head end at the far end of Illmo yard.  The BSM came screaming off the bridge and down the hill at 40 mph. (most times faster)  The caboose radioed, "by bell crossing," a rural road crossing half way down the hill, with flashing lights and a dinging bell.  The train brakes were set hard as all that power pulled against them.  Next, the rear end called out, "A-block," at the east signal that governed entrance to Illmo yard.  Finally, within ten car lengths of the yard office the rear end radio crackled, "That'll Do!"  The engines power was throttled down and the BSM glided to a stop, usually, with the caboose right at the yard office door!  That was  the best trip from Valley Junction to Illmo in that a crew could have-- in less than five hours on duty.

That was nothing compared to the trip south of Illmo on real Cotton Belt trackage.  The BSM's speed limit was 70 mph with an "X" on the clearance.  Often, the gutsiest locomotive engineers ran much faster over the best stretches. At Idalia, MO, just north of Dexter, the "Streak" was already across that rural highway crossing before the crossing gates were even halfway down!  That was railroading Brother!   I am fortunate to have had the experience in my 20s; times that I will never forget!

Chip Lindley  BSMFF71

Jefferson City MO