Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties…and an airline? This is the lowest inventory number I have of the airline series that MJRS issued between the mid 80s or so through to the late 90s. The company was owned by Mary Jayne and John Z. Rowe of Covington VA. The MJRS company was incorporated, though, in North Miami Beach FL in 1973 and went inactive in 1999. Mary Jayne died in 2015 but her obituary doesn’t mention MJRS. It only states that she and her husband operated a land survey company. There’s an article in a railfan mag on the web on MJRS, but it’s stuck behind a $43 paywall. Passed on that. There is no inventory list of these cards on the web, as far as I know. This is MJ354 and my highest number is MJ1297, but this isn’t a continuous sequence. There are many holes in the numbering. Either I just don’t have all the cards (likely) or these cards, which changed publisher at least once, were part of a larger print run that included other subjects. This one was printed by Alleghany Publishers, Covington, VA. I hope the pinkish hue was intentional.
The cards I have cover an amazing number of airlines and many, many aircraft. This group was a real find.
Monthly Archives: June 2016
Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties
Alf Berry
So, here’s Alf.
In the writing on the reverse, there’s one word that I can’t figure out. It’s the word written over the “P” in “Post”.
Alf Berry picture gave to B (?oo?) B feb 27, 1913 at Roda Va” Roda is a coal town in Wise County, at the end of what was once an Interstate Rail Road line. It’s northwest of Appalachia, past Osaka.
Interesting that the person writing this added the “Va”. It was never mailed. The writing just serves to identify the person and give a context to the picture itself.
Alf’s not wearing any rings. The buttons on his jacket have been much used; they’re hanging loosely. Sturdy shoes. Looks like some sort of basket hoop by his right foot. Can’t say much about his tie.
The other writing is when some dumb dealer wrote his buy code and the price of the card. I wish dealers wouldn’t be so unconcerned about these real photo cards. They’re one-offs, after all.
Caryville Dragon
If you live around Clinton or Lafollette TN, you know about this dragon.
The story is here.
I-75, which this dragon overlooks, came through this area in the early 80s, which would agree with citations on the ‘web about this figure having been constructed in the early 80s. I’m hopeless when it comes to estimating the height of something, but this dragon is quite a bit taller than the Dollar General store that now occupies the old Monster Fireworks location. A lady who has lived in the Caryville area for a long time told me that there used to be red lights in the eyes of the dragon.
This dragon has probably stalked through many a child’s nightmares.
Before KFC, there was
This was the first nationally franchised restaurant chain in the United States.
Chicken in the Rough (you ate it without silverware). Read about it here.
This card is from their Memphis location. I wonder how many people won the $100 cash prize?