Today’s Mystery Photo is not your every day statue. And it might cause you to stretch your mind in determining just where this statue is placed. Send your findings to elliott@brack.net, and include your home town.
Several readers recognized two Minutemen statues in New England, which came from Rob Ponder of Duluth. Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. gave a good answer: “Today’s mystery photo is a depiction of two bronze statues that were erected in honor of the Minutemen who fought in the first battle of the Revolutionary War. On the left of the Concord, Mass. mystery photo is The Minute Man statue, a depiction of Captain John Trull (1737–1797) created by Daniel Chester French (1850–1931). This seven-foot tall bronze statue was cast from old Civil War cannons by the Ames Foundry of Chicopee Mass. It was unveiled on April 19, 1875 as part of the centennial celebration and memorial of the lives lost during the Revolutionary War.
“On the right of the mystery photo is the The Lexington Minuteman, a life-sized bronze statue depiction of Captain John Parker (1729–1775) the leader of the Lexington Militia in 1775. Created by Henry Hudson Kitson (ca.1863–1947), this statue was unveiled in 1900 and is located in Lexington Common (aka Lexington Battle Green) approximately six-miles east of the Concord Minute Man statue.”
Other readers contributing to identifying the two statues include Sara Rawlins, Lawrenceville; Michael Blackwood, Duluth; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Lou Camerio, Lilburn; and Steve Ogilvie, Lawrenceville.
Original MARTA rail car now at SE Railway Museum
One of the original fleet of MARTA rail cars, No. 509, has been donated to the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth. The museum currently houses historic MARTA buses but this is the first of the railcars added to its collection. The railcar, along with 20 others in the original fleet, was built by engineering firm Société Franco-Belge and hit the tracks in 1981. Railcar #509 was eventually retired 30 years later and has sat at the Avondale Railyard since. The original units are 75 feet long and weigh 81,000 pounds, featuring 46 passenger seats and operator cabs on both ends. Over the next few years, MARTA plans to replace its entire fleet with 224 railcars — 56 four-car train sets — which the transit authority purchased from manufacturer Stadler Rail in 2019. The equipment cost $646 million, the largest single procurement for both organizations.
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