Santa Barbara Wine Train Adventure Videos

Did you know? - The Orange Blossom Special was a deluxe passenger train operated primarily by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad between New York City and Miami in the United States.

The train was handled by the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York City to Washington, D.C., the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Washington to Richmond, and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad from Richmond via Raleigh, Columbia, Savannah and Jacksonville to Miami. A section went to Tampa and St. Petersburg, as a winter season only service.

Inaugurated on November 21, 1925, the service was the brainchild of SAL president S. Davies Warfield, who wanted to capitalize on the booming development that was taking place in Florida at the time. Warfield believed that Florida was a land of opportunity, and with the addition of fast, luxurious train travel, he could lure influential (not to mention wealthy) business leaders to the Sunshine State.

It happened during the maiden run of the new streamlined train at the Jacksonville Seaboard Railroad Station that Ervin T. Rouse and Robert Russell "Chubby" Wise saw this train. Rouse and Wise wrote the song as a fiddle tune. It has been called the best known fiddle tune of the twentieth century. The tune was first recorded by Ervin and his brother Gordon one year later in New York. Bill Monroe recorded Rouse and Wise's tune in 1942 (with Art Wooten on fiddle) and popularized the tune. Johnny Cash named his 1965 album after the song. The song was also recorded by Bill Ramsey and Don Paulin.

Did you know? - The City of New Orleans is a nightly passenger train operated by Amtrak which travels 926 miles (1,490 km) between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. Before Amtrak's formation in 1971, the train was operated by the Illinois Central Railroad along the same route (though changes have been made since then).

The City of New Orleans began life as the daytime companion train to the all-Pullman car Panama Limited that also traveled the IC's mainline from New Orleans, Louisiana to Chicago, Illinois. The daytime train was significantly cheaper. This train was a major part of the large migration of African Americans from the U.S. South during the early 20th century, as it was one of the cheaper transportation options available.

Casey Jones

Did you know? - John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900) was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi on a foggy and rainy night. His dramatic death trying to stop his train and save lives made him a folk hero who became immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC. Due to the enduring popularity of this song, his life and legend have been celebrated for over a century.

Casey Jones was born March 14, 1863, in southeast Missouri to country school teacher Frank Jones and his wife Anne, though the exact place of his birth is unknown, the first of five children. In 1876, his family moved to the small community of Cayce, Kentucky. As a boy, he developed a growing obsession with trains from spending time around the Cayce depot. In 1878, at the age of 15, he went to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as a telegrapher in nearby Columbus. Jones grew to be 6’4 1/2" tall with dark hair, gray eyes, and a slim build. His size and strength made him a natural for the often brutal work of railroad life. In 1884 he moved to Jackson, Tennessee, still in the employ of the M&O, to take a job as a flagman, where he stayed at a boarding house for railroad men run by the mother of his future wife, who worked there as well.

Wreck of Old 97

Did you know? - The "Old 97", a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail, was en route from Monroe, Virginia to Spencer, North Carolina when it left the track at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia on September 27, 1903. The wreck inspired a famous railroad ballad, which was the focus of a convoluted copyright lawsuit.

The wreck of Old 97 occurred when the engineer (driver), 33 year old Joseph A. ("Steve") Broadey, at the controls of engine number 1102, was operating the train at high speed in order to stay on schedule and arrive at Spencer on time (The Fast Mail had a reputation for never being late).

The engine that just happened to be pulling train 97 that day was locomotive #1102, a ten wheeler (4-6-0) engine built by Baldwin Locomotive works in Philadelphia. #1102 rolled out of the factory in early 1903, less than a year before the wreck.

After the wreck the engine was rebuilt and served for nearly 30 years before being scrapped July 9th, 1935.

Engineer Broadey and two firemen boarded the train at Washington, farther up the line from Spencer, the second fireman being assigned to assist in maintaining the steam pressure at its maximum so the train would not lose too much speed on ascending grades. The train was substantially behind schedule upon leaving Washington and was one hour late upon arriving at Monroe.

At Monroe, Broadey was instructed to get the Fast Mail to Spencer, 166 miles distant, on time. The scheduled running time from Monroe to Spencer was four hours, fifteen minutes, an average speed of approximately 39 mph (62.4 km/h).

In order to make up the one hour delay, the train's average speed would have to be at least 51 mph (82 km/h). Broadey was ordered to maintain speed through Franklin Junction, an intermediate stop normally made during the run.

The route between Monroe and Spencer was rolling terrain and there were numerous danger points due to the combination of grades and tight radius curves. Signs were posted to warn engineers to watch their speed.

However, in his quest to stay on time, engineer Broadey rapidly descended a heavy grade that ended at the 75-foot high Stillhouse Trestle, which spanned Cherrystone Creek. He was unable to sufficiently reduce speed as he approached the curve leading into the trestle, causing the entire train to derail and plunge into the ravine below. Nine people were killed, including the locomotive crew and a number of clerks in the mail car coupled between the tender and the rest of the train.

The Southern Railway placed blame for the wreck on engineer Broadey, disavowing that he had been ordered run as fast as possible to maintain the schedule.

The railroad also claimed he descended the grade leading to Stillhouse Trestle at a speed of more than 70 mph (112 km/h). Several eyewitnesses to the wreck, however, stated that the speed was probably around 50 mph (80 km/h).

In all likelihood, the railroad was at least partially to blame, as they had a lucrative contract with the U.S. Post Office to haul mail (hence the train's name), the contract including a penalty clause for each minute the train was late into Spencer. It is probably safe to conclude that the engineers piloting the Fast Mail were always under pressure to stay on time so the railroad would not be penalized for late mail delivery.

Did you know? - "The Wabash Cannonball" is an American folk song about a fictional train, thought to have originated in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled "The Great Rock Island Route" and credited to J. A. Roff. All subsequent versions contain a variation of the chorus:

Now listen to the jingle, and the rumble, and the roar,
As she dashes thro' the woodland, and speeds along the shore,
See the mighty rushing engine, hear her merry bell ring out
As they speed along in safety, on the "Great Rock-Island Route."

A rewritten version by William Kindt appeared in 1904 under the title "Wabash Cannon Ball".

The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936

Did you know? - "The Wabash Cannonball" is an American folk song about a fictional train, thought to have originated in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled "The Great Rock Island Route" and credited to J. A. Roff. All subsequent versions contain a variation of the chorus:

Now listen to the jingle, and the rumble, and the roar,
As she dashes thro' the woodland, and speeds along the shore,
See the mighty rushing engine, hear her merry bell ring out
As they speed along in safety, on the "Great Rock-Island Route."

A rewritten version by William Kindt appeared in 1904 under the title "Wabash Cannon Ball".

The Carter Family made one of the first recordings of the song in 1929, though it was not released until 1932. Another popular version was recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936

Did you know? - James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933), known as "Jimmie," was a country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as "The Singing Brakeman", "The Blue Yodeler", and "The Father of Country Music".

Jimmie Rodgers' traditional birthplace is usually given as Meridian, Mississippi; however, in documents signed by Rodgers later in life, his birthplace was listed as Geiger, Alabama, the home of his paternal grandparents. Rodgers' mother died when he was very young, and Rodgers, the youngest of three sons, spent the next few years living with various relatives in southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama, near Geiger. He eventually returned home to live with his father, Aaron Rodgers, a foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, who had settled with a new wife in Meridia.

With the country in the grip of the Depression, the practice of making field recordings was quickly fading, so in May 1933, Rodgers traveled again to New York City for a group of sessions beginning May 17, 1933.

He started these sessions recording alone and completed four songs on the first day. When he returned to the studio after a day's rest, he had to record sitting down and soon retired to his hotel in hopes of regaining enough energy to finish the songs he had been rehearsing.

The recording engineer hired two session musicians to help Rodgers when he came back to the studio a few days later. Together they recorded a few songs, including "Mississippi Delta Blues". For his last song of the session, however, Jimmie chose to perform alone, and as a matching bookend to his career, recorded "Years Ago" by himself.

During his last recording session in New York City on May 24, 1933, after years of fighting the tuberculosis, Rodgers was so weakened that he needed to rest on a cot between songs. Jimmie Rodgers died two days later on May 26, 1933 from a lung hemorrhage while staying at the Taft Hotel; he was only 35 years old