This was my Father. I would appreciate any information you may have on his 43 years of service with the C of GA RR when he took "EARLY" retirement. He began his career with the C of Ga as a common laboror building the bridge below the dam at the Gantt Pond (AL) in the very early 20's.

My two brothers and myself would be interested in joining the society. Also both brothers, James D and Bill E Bates worked for the C of GA after their high school years in the late 40's & early 50's in Columbus Ga.

Thank you,

Jack Bates

-- Jack W Bates (yachty@juno.com), August 17, 2002

Answers

Bill,

Hearing from someone who has a direct connection to the Central is always great. My good friend Mr. James Deason over in Sylacauga has mentioned several B&B men to me, and your father might be one of them, as his name sounds familiar.

The easiest way for you and your brothers to join the Society would be using our new online sign-up. Just go to our Society Store at the Web site (http://cofg.org), add a membership to your shopping cart and "check out."

Our online store uses PayPal to process payment information, so if you already have a PayPal account the process is really simple and fast. If not, you just need to fill out a couple of simple forms to create a PayPal account.

It only takes a little longer to join if you feel more comfortable doing business by US mail. Most pages on the Web site have a navigation bar that runs down the left side of the screen. One of the categories on this bar is "Society."

An option under "Society" is "Membership" and if you follow this link you will come to a page that has "Follow this link to join or renew by mail or fax."

If you follow this link you will get a form that you can fill out and print. The form has the address where it should be mailed.

If you type information (which is just your name and where to send your copies of “The Right Way,” our quarterly publication) into the form and print it you will not even have to write on the form!

If you want to print out extra copies for your brothers, you can either fill in their information, or just print blank copies and let them fill them in.

Either way we would be honored to have all of you as members.

By the way, one of the longest running and most popular features in “The Right Way” is something we call "A Life in the Day of the Central." This is a play on the phrase "A Day in the Life" and each one features recollections from a former member of the Central family.

I expect that between you and your brothers you could provide plenty of information about your father's and your brothers' careers with the Central. B&B if one of the crafts we would all like to know more about.

Based on comments I receive at meetings, train shows and by email, I can assure you that people would appreciate hearing your recollections.

Again, we are delighted that you found the CofGa Web site and are interested in joining the Society!

Sincerely, Ron. Wright
Web Site Manager and Past President
The Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society

-- Ron. Wright (rondywright@hotmail.com), August 20, 2002.

My dad worked with Mr. Bates for many years on the C of G. I know that he really liked and respected Mr. Bates. My dad James W.(Jimmy) Edwards later became the B&B supervisor He finally retired with the Norfolk Southern.

-- Alan Edwards (aedwards@outdrs.net), October 16, 2002.