The herald also channels the Burlington Northern's " 'N' that isn't there," that was so fascinating to me as a kid.
Much appreciation goes to Patrick Harris of Three Notch Rail for another custom run of SNR cars. And a big thanks as well goes to all the guys who jumped in and bought copies for their own railroads -- I believe the run is already sold out.
Now, several of those friends -- especially guys who run waybill routing systems, who care deeply about such things and document them -- brought up the same question about their new SNR covered hoppers:
¿"OK, what's in them?"
Well y'know, I'd never thought about that before. Grain always works, but what about something more specific to the SNR? And the answer was quickly obvious:
👉"Peanuts."
Suffolk, VA sits in the middle of a rich peanut growing region. In fact, Barri and I named US 460 from Petersburg to Suffolk "The Peanut Route", so our boys would understand which road we were planning to take, on our trips down to the NC Outer Banks. (This was in contrast to "The Bridge-Tunnel Route", which meant killer industrial and maritime scenery for boys, with spirited language and bursting neck veins from Dad, charging headlong through the insanity of Hampton Roads on I-64.)
On 460, the bucolic 45-mile stretch of 4-lane highway runs almost constantly through peanut and cotton fields, and is paralleled the whole way by the N&W mainline to Norfolk and Lambert's Point. It's also paralleled by the original RoW of the SNR, chartered north out of Suffolk, toward Petersburg and Richmond, in 1852.
Upon my explaining all this, my friend Robbie Vaughn (L&N/Family Lines) said:
"Seems like 'The Peanut Route' ought to be a slogan on a boxcar somewhere."
Well there's something else I never thought of. As much as every named thing on the SNR is an inside joke or buried reference, that idea never found a place to grow.
So here we are, three weeks later, and look what just rolled into at Yaeger Yard:
SNR's subsidiary, the Southern Shore Line, hasn't gotten around to repainting all of its equipment to include the corporate overlord's herald yet, given it's only been 6 years since the 1946 acquisition. This double-sheathed USRA car is still wearing the scheme from its last repaint, in the '30s -- along with many layers of soot.
The Southern Shore Line is analogous to the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line. As an Appalachian coal hauler, the SNR was ahead of its time in acquiring a gateway route to the South -- grabbing the SSL, and leaving the C&O and N&W to fight over the SCL and the Southern, years later.
By contrast to the wooden car still showing the slogan, this all-steel car (which has been on the layout a while), has had an overhaul since the 1946 merger, including new Youngstown doors, and a power hand brake. We know now that the updated paint job that came with the rebuild must have obliterated the quaint SSL slogan -- replacing it with the conglomerate insignia carried by all the SNR subsidiaries.
The SSL is named for the town of Southern Shores, NC, where our beach house is located... which has been our destination when travelling via "The Peanut Route" since 2002 (get it....). And as it happens, that fertile peanut-growing region extends the full length of those southern coastal plains through which all three of the coast "Lines" pass, all the way to the Florida panhandle.. It was only natural that the SSL should be the subsidiary that would get to wear "The Peanut Route" slogan. Great call, Robbie! 😉
Well listen, thanks for taking the time to read this. The backstory, rationale, and references are as much fun as the modeling, for me at least.
And especially, if you've acquired a Centerflow or two, thanks for honoring the SNR with your interest. Shoot me a pic if one's made it onto the layout already.
Cheers! Would love to hear what you think....