Central of Georgia’s Man O’ War

14″x11″ signed limited edition print published from the original pen & ink drawing, edition of 300

Please email me at CokerArt@yahoo.com for a print, $30 plus $8 shipping, unframed

The one-of-kind original art is available matted and framed. Contact me at CokerArt@yahoo.com for price.

“You could almost touch the tension in Monticello (GA). For the town waited on the train and not the other way around. Monticello had all day to pack peaches and bale cotton and sort letters and talk about Gone With The Wind and get a haircut- but the mixed train only tarried 20 minutes to a half hour, and if you were riding down the line to Round Oak or picking up the mail and express or meeting your cousin, why, you’d best be down at the depot at half past the hour.”  -David P. Morgan, 1927-1990

I created this pen & ink drawing back in 1994. It was my first limited edition print. I never sold the complete edition, so I thought I would offer the rest of them now. I think there are over 150 prints left in the edition. The image is of the Central of Georgia’s streamliner passenger train,  The Man O’ War, that ran twice daily between Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia. This scene is in the rail yard at Columbus under the viaduct, circa 1947, where the brand new E7 unit, #806, was about to make its maiden voyage to Atlanta. The proud conductor about to board his train is believed to be Mr. B. C. Bennett of the Atlanta area. I debuted this print at a train show in Atlanta and a man walked up to my table and recognized his grandfather (Mr. Bennett) in my drawing. I was amazed! I based the drawing on an old photo I found in the archives at the newspaper at which I worked. I may do an oil painting of the same scene in the future. I’ve been thinking about it for years.

When I found that photo I knew I wanted to do a drawing or painting of it, because it reminded me of when I was a kid how I used to see the Man O’ War every day after school. I was attending Daniel Junior High in 1967 and when that last bell rang in the afternoon, I and a friend or two would head for the Central of Georgia mainline on our way home to see the spectacle that was the Man O’ War. The engineer became quite familiar with our young faces and always blew his horn for us and waved.  Talk about feeling special! I can’t count the number of pennies that the wheels of  that train flattened for me. We would dig in our pockets to see if we could come up with a penny or two to carefully place on the rails. We would then back away across the ditch and await the train. As it approached the 45th Street crossing it would blow it’s piercing horn as if to say, stand back folks, the Man O’ War has returned! It was a proud steed, to say the least. We would begin to fidget with anticipation as we got our first visual. As the beautiful streamliner rolled past us it took all we had to stay focused on where our pennies were. We wanted to see the engineer and get a glimpse of the passengers as they rolled by in the lap of luxury that was this train. After she rolled by we would scramble to the tracks to find our flattened copper prizes and it was always like hunting for gold,  digging around in the chunky, gray ballast looking for that glimmering piece of elongated, flattened copper. I think I may have a couple of those left of the dozens I once had. I hope so. Yes, I know, in this day and time you can’t get near a railroad track without someone thinking you’re a terrorist. Sad. Engineers and conductors will still proudly wave from their big, rolling machines if they see you. Some traditions still live and railroaders proudly cling to them. I’m glad, because at the risk of sounding a lot older than I really am, those were the good ole days!  Enjoy!