Thez Liinville River is a new one for me. Never knew it existed! Thanks!
Yes, Dave, the Linville River was one of the obscure lines. It and the ET&WNC had the same officers, and the representation in the Guide showed that it was a separate railroad. I imagine that it had the same operation as the West Point Route had--one crew for the full run between Boone, N.C, and Johnson City, Tenn. The 66 mile trip took four hours westbound, and four hours and fifty minutes eastbound, and if you came to Johnson City, two hours and ten minutes before going back home.
For many years, I have known of Grandfather Mountain, which is east of the line as it goes up to Boone; looking at the map in the Guide, I discovered that there is also a Grandmother Mountain, just south of Grandfather Mountain.
When my mother was about thirteen or fourteen years old, she went to a boarding school at Banner Elk, and she rode the ET&WNC from Johnson City to get there.
Johnny
Well, I took a bit of a sabbatical while I attended to historical society biz over at the ACL & SAL group. I'm in the middle of setting up our new forum...of course you all are welcome to join, membership in the HS is not required, but it will still be a month or so before we're ready to sail!
Staying somewhat in the area and genre: My question is : What was the longest narrow gauge railroad in the Carolinas and who ended up with their equipment when standard gauged?
I think it was the line that ran west from Morehead City, the Something (Morehead? Atlantic?) and Western Carolina, and I imagine their eqipment went to the Eastern Tennesee and Western North Carolina Ralroad when they went to standard gauge.
I believe this was the Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge RR which ran 120 or so miles from Chester, SC to Lenoir, NC. It became the Carolina & Northwestern Ry and was standard gauged in 1901 or 1902. I've no idea where its NG equipment went but Dave's guess of it going to the Tweetsie is as good as any I might come up with.
Mark
After posting the prior reply a thought occurred to me that the Carolina & Northwestern's narrow gauge rolling stock and/or locomotives might have gone to a railroad that was being built at the time it was standard gauged and the White Pass and Yukon came to mind.
Mark...you are correct so far, but I still need to tell me the correct place their stuff went !
FlyingCrow Mark...you are correct so far, but I still need to tell me the correct place their stuff went !
Buck, I take it that my guess of the WP&Y wasn't correct. Their equipment might have gone to a Mexican or even a South American NG road. I haven't been able to find anything about its disposition so I'll just have to take a SWAG again and will say the Interoceanic (or was it the Interoceania) road in Mexico.
If no one objects , I'll give it Mark...along with the correct answer.
Look forward to Mark's question and the second half of the answer.
Two shortline railroads had much in common: 1) Their names, 2) Both were built and operated by big industrial firms, 3) Both connected a large plant of these companies with the national rail network and transported raw materials to and finished products from these plants, and 4) Both operated solely within the city limits of the municipalities where these plants were located.
What were the names of these railroads, the names of the corporations that owned them, their locations and what railroad(s) did they connect with?
So as not to mislead anyone I need to make a clarification. The names of the two railroads were very similar but were not identical.
Mark...the C&NW narrow gauge equipment went to the Lawndale.
So , is one of these railroads the Manufacturers Railway of St. Louis, Mo?
There was also a Manufacturers' Railroad in Connecticut, owned by the New Haven, either directly or through its Connecticut Company streetcar subsidiafy. It used steeple-cap trolley pole locomotives, had some tracks of its own, but mostly used Conecticut Company streetcar tracks.
FlyingCrow Mark...the C&NW narrow gauge equipment went to the Lawndale. So , is one of these railroads the Manufacturers Railway of St. Louis, Mo?
Yes, that's one of the two. What corporation built, owned and operated it and with what RR's did it connect? Still looking for the other road.
daveklepper There was also a Manufacturers' Railroad in Connecticut, owned by the New Haven, either directly or through its Connecticut Company streetcar subsidiafy. It used steeple-cap trolley pole locomotives, had some tracks of its own, but mostly used Conecticut Company streetcar tracks.
Dave, I've looked for this road in half a dozen OG's from 1910 to 1955 and can find no mention of it. This leads me to believe it was either not a separate RR or was not a common carrier. In any event it is not the other road I'm looking for.
narig01I found a listing for Hoboken Manufactures Railway. Did something connected to Maxwell House Coffee. Became the Hoboken Shore Railroad.Rgds IGN
Nope, that's not the other one.
Well the MRS of St Louis was an Anheuser Busch operation. The light bulb went on today after talking to an old friend from Michigan.
Are you talking about the Lansing Mfgr Ry...Or Lansing Belt , The one that served all the GM plants in Lansing, Michigan. NYC Subsidiary. The last bastion of NYC 0-8-0's.
Mark, I think it was not in the OG because all freight billing was handled directly by the NYNH&H.
FlyingCrow Well the MRS of St Louis was an Anheuser Busch operation. The light bulb went on today after talking to an old friend from Michigan. Are you talking about the Lansing Mfgr Ry...Or Lansing Belt , The one that served all the GM plants in Lansing, Michigan. NYC Subsidiary. The last bastion of NYC 0-8-0's.
Buck, you're correct, the Manufacturers Ry was owned by AB and served their huge Budweiser brewery in StL. It connected with the TRRA and the MoPac. That's one down and one still to get.
The other road was not the Lansing Mfgr Ry.
daveklepper Mark, I think it was not in the OG because all freight billing was handled directly by the NYNH&H.
Dave, that's very possibly the situation but remember we're looking for a RR that was owned by the corporation it served, not a subsidiary of another RR.
Steel company owned? Near or in Pittsburgh?
KCSfan narig01I found a listing for Hoboken Manufactures Railway. Did something connected to Maxwell House Coffee. Became the Hoboken Shore Railroad.Rgds IGN Nope, that's not the other one. Mark
The Hoboken Manufacturers Ry was a good call except it did not meet the criterion of having been built and operated by a large industrial company.
I think there were two steel-company-owned railroads near Pttisburgh, one was the Monongahela and Western Pennsylvania, and the other might have been just the Monongahela Railroad or something similar. US steel owned one or both.
Cities/towns may be Pittsburgh itself, McKees Rocks, McKeesport, Ailiquipa
Sorry, reread the thread, and the name Manufacturer('s) must be included. Wrong guesses.
Looks like a hint is in order.
The track owned by the second railroad was entirely within a suburb immediately adjacent to a large mid-western city. The road operated via trackage rights into the larger city.
narig01Didn't Singer have a railway in Indiana? Off the top of my head I don't remember where or the name. Thought I would throw it out there for someone.Thx IGN
You're thinking of the New Jersey Indiana and Illinois which served the Singer plant in South Bend. That RR was the subject of just a few questions ago on either this or the other Questions thread and is not the other railroad were looking for in the current question.
Manufacturers Junction in Cicero IL owned by Western Electric.
rcdrye Manufacturers Junction in Cicero IL owned by Western Electric.
That's the one I'm looking for Rob. The MJ connected with the IC, CB&Q, C&IW, BRC and B&OCTRR. Much of its trackage lay within the grounds of WE's sprawling Hawthorne manufacturing complex.
Both you and Buck Dean have correctly identified one of the two railroads so whichever of you has a question ready go ahead and post it.
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