Iconic train in Loganville back on track

The refurbished Forty & Eight ‘locomotive’, a fixture in Loganville parades for years until it fell into disrepair, heads down Lawrenceville Road Nov. 29, as the lead vehicle in the city’s Christmas parade. Photo credit: Jim Thompson for the Walton Tribune

With an ear-splitting blast from its main horn, a quick medley of honks and toots from its other horns, and a blast from its siren, the locally iconic Forty & Eight “locomotive” lumbered back into Loganville’s history on Nov. 29, leading the city’s 2025 Christmas parade.

For years, the Forty & Eight headed up the city’s Christmas and Fourth of July parades, along with a host of other municipal parades. Sadly, though, it eventually fell into disrepair, and from there into disuse.

Then, almost exactly three years ago, on Dec. 14, 2022, Loganville’s American Legion Post 233 donated the vehicle to the city, in hopes that it could be repaired and put back into service as a rolling local landmark.

Ross Burrell, right, fleet maintenance director for the city of Loganville, talks about the work it took to get the Forty & Eight ‘locomotive’ in shape for a return to the city’s civic life. The vehicle was donated to the city by American Legion Post 233 in hopes that it could be brought back into service. Photo credit: Jim Thompson | The Walton Tribune

Thanks to Ross Burrell, the city’s vehicle fleet maintenance director, and staff members Nick Casper, Paul Hunt and Blake LaGrand, that’s exactly what has happened.

The refurbished vehicle’s name, rendered “Forty Et Eight” on its sides, references a by-invitation honor society of American veterans. The name harkens back to World War I, when French railroad boxcars were used to transport troops and horses. Boxcars used for that purpose were marked with the notation “40/8,” signaling that they could carry either 40 men or eight horses.

As near as anyone can tell, the Forty & Eight began life as a 1953 GMC school bus, according to some sleuthing done by Burrell after he discovered an identification plate on the vehicle.

Transforming it into a locomotive, and maintaining it as an homage to the Forty Et Eight organization, was a labor of love for the late Bobby Boss, a former Post 233 commander; his brother, Wendell; and Joe Dial, another Post 233 member. A 2023 interview with Wendell Boss has proved invaluable in helping the city chronicle the history, construction and community spirit that produced the Forty & Eight.

According to Burrell, the locomotive was built sometime in the late 1960s, powered by a six-cylinder diesel engine coupled with a 10-speed transmission and a two-speed rear axle.

It was assembled with a hodgepodge of fabricated parts, which remain in place today. An old high-powered industrial lamp lights the vehicle’s way. Some random metal tubing was fashioned into a “cow-catcher” for the front of the vehicle. What appears to be a section of old large-diameter water pipe helps give the front of the vehicle the look of an old-time locomotive. Some curved metal, of undetermined origin, helps give the front of the vehicle the silhouette of a train engine.

“What, exactly, was that?” Burrell asked, a note of admiration in his voice, as he gestured across the expanse of curved metal at the front of the Forty & Eight as it sat idling Saturday evening, waiting for the signal to lead off the Christmas parade.

Repairing and refurbishing the vehicle presented a unique set of challenges for Burrell and his staff. As just one example, the only access to the engine is through an 18-by-18-inch latching metal door cut into one side of the vehicle.

“I had to physically crawl up in there,” Burrell said, opening the door and reaching in to illustrate the challenge.

In the three years the city has had the Forty & Eight, Burrell estimates he and his team spent “a couple hundred hours” restoring it. But, truth be told, Burrell said, he lost track of the time he and his team spent on the restoration, sandwiching their work on it into the odd minutes and other time they had when not attending to the immediate maintenance needs of the city’s police cars and other vehicles.

Work done on the Forty & Eight included installation of an updated gear reductive starter, the addition of a third battery and cables, designing a fuel primer pressure pump, repairing or replacing most of the electrical system, replacing several valves and fittings to address air pressure leaks, and reconfiguring the air brake system.

Outside of the labor provided by Burrell and his team, the city spent just $1,348 on the Forty & Eight to get it into shape for the Christmas parade and beyond.

For the immediate future, Burrell said, the refurbished locomotive shouldn’t require much work to remain in good shape.

“We’re good for a while,” he said, a note of relief in his voice, even as he explained that an upcoming bit of work will include installing a camera at the front of the vehicle to improve visibility from the cab.

Just as it was for the Boss brothers and Joe Dial, work on the locomotive has been a labor of love for Burrell and others who remember seeing it, and in some cases, riding in it, during the parades of their youth.

One of those people is Cledus Jones, who works in the city’s Streets & Transportation Department. Jones’ career has included driving heavy trucks, and it was that experience that landed him with the coveted position of driving the Forty & Eight for the Christmas parade, with help from a spotter looking out the right-side window of the vehicle’s cramped cab area.

Jones, like others gathered around the vehicle in the parade’s staging area, has memories of riding in it during parades of his younger years with his father, a member of American Legion Post 233.

“There ain’t much I can’t drive,” Jones said as he prepared to climb into the forty & Eight’s cab, where he would face the manipulation of three separate gearshifts and cope with the vehicle’s lack of power steering.

But behind that bravado was the unmistakably youthful awe of a man handed a chance to bring his childhood full circle.

“I’m just tickled to death I get to drive it,” he said.

In a statement issued to recognize the return of the Forty & Eight to Loganville’s civic life, the city called the vehicle “a rolling monument to the values of leadership, unity, and service,” and noted that its “presence in Loganville stands as a tribute to the veterans who built it, the community that preserved it, and the enduring legacy of the Forty & Eight.”