Uestion: What's that steam en

Evething-

Steam Enginel

gine coming down the track?

Answer: It depends on what side of the track you're on.

On one side of the track it's Savannah & Atlanta No.750. On the other .side it's Illinois Central Railroad No.382. That's the engine that was throttled by Johnathon Luther Jones, better known as Casey.

Actually, you're looking at S&A 750, an engine owned by the Atlanta chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. (In 1962 S&A donated the engine to the chapter. S&A is now part of the Central of Georgia, a Southern Railway System company.)

Confused? Well, you needn't be. Here's what happened. Sears, Roebuck and Co. is running a series of paint commercials on television. The' s~ries, "Great American Honies," advertises paint. Historic homes are painted with Sears' top-line paint.

Great American Homes that have been painted include Mark Twain's boyhood home in Hannibal, Mo.; Nathan Hale's homestead, South Coventry, Conn.; the "Longwood" estate, Natchez, Miss.; Bethesda Home for Boys, Savannah, Ga.; Betsy Ross home, Philadelphia, Pa.; Buf-

Top: S&A No.750 became I.C.R.R. No.382. Bottom: Casey's home in Jackson, Tenn., gets a fresh coat of paint.

falo Bill Ranch, North Platte, Neb.; Teddy Roosevelt's summer house, "Sagamore Hill," Oyster Bay, N. Y.; Booker T. Washington's home, Tuskegee, Ala.; John Paul Jones' home, Portsmouth, N. H.; and Sam Houston's home, Huntsvine, Texas.

And now Casey's home in Jackson, Tenn., has been added to the list. It's been 74 years since Casey died at the throttle, but his fame has lived on in song and his home is now a museum that depicts Casey's period of American history. The home is owned by the city of Jackson.

Poi the Casey Jones paint commercial,

Helping to coordinate film shooting

were Robert Collins (left), then assistant track supervisor, Griffin, Ga., and

John Thompson, trainmaster, Atlanta. Mr. Collins is now track supervisor

at Jesup, Ga.

Sears decided it would be nice to have an engine similar to Casey's steaming down the track. So Sears contacted Southern and arrangements were made to shoot footage near Griffin, Ga.

Last summer an eight-man film crew from Chicago met at the Southern station in Griffin at sunrise. Their first job was to cover over "s&A" and .'750" with "I.C.R.R." and .'382" on one side of the engine and the front. Cardboard signs that had been made in Chicago were taped to the engine. f ,

The film crew shot footage at several locations up until the sunset. Sears, however, used only about 15 seconds of this footage for the commercial, which was recently released. The television appearance of the 382 (750) may be brief, but the steamer will surely bring back long, pleasant memories of days when men like Casey were at the throttle. .

This is the side you won't see on television.

On the other side it's I.C.R.R. Engine No.382. You can't see him, but at the throttle Bill Purdie, Southern's master mechanic-steam, played the role of Casey. His son, Donald, served as fireman.