Jackie Robinson Special--N&W?

[NW Mailing List]

  *I * have been following the rebroadcast of PBS' American Experience/ 
Ken Burns Baseball.  In the most recent segment featuring the Jackie 
Robinson story, fleeting *mention is made of the "Jackie Robinson 
Special", *a train running in the 1947 season from Norfolk to Cincinnati 
for Robinson fans delirious over *Jackie's having been signed by the 
Brooklyn Dodgers that year, the first African-American admitted to major 
league baseball.**  Years before in the Negro Leagues Jackie had played 
on the Norfolk team.  The "special" ran when the Dodgers played at 
Cincinnati.

Sounds like the rail protagonist was the N&W, end to end.  Can anyone 
confirm?

Has the story ever appeared in The Arrow?  If not, isn't it time that it 
did?

I'd be glad to work on recovering the story, or collaborate with 
others.  Anyone know where details might be uncovered?  Perhaps news 
stories in the Norfolk and Cincinnati newspapers, for a start?  Any 
Norfolk and Cincinnati people care to inquire?

I googled what I could, and found--again,  just a passing reference--a 
note (p. 196) in Jules Tygiel's "Baseball's Great Experiment--Jackie 
Robinson and His Legacy", 1997 (revised edition), printed on occasion of 
the 50th anniversary of Robinson's breaking the color barrier in the 
national sport.

So anyone with info or pointers for research, do speak up!

Frank Gibson
*
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