The shortline I am currently in the process of gathering material to model (N scale) is the Wiregrass Central Railroad, a subsidiary of the Gulf and Ohio Railway. The railroad runs from Waterford, AL where it connects to CSX, to Enterprise, AL (approx 20 miles). The railroad services Fort Rucker, AL (the Home of Army Aviation, where I am stationed), Conagra, Wayne's Poultry, Sessions Peanut Company, and Kelly Seed. My favorite narrow guage that I came very close to modeling was the Surry, Sussex, and Southhampton near the east coast of Virginia along the James River.
Rick ... A good friend of mine owns the Filmore RR. You are right, it is a well run outfit! Robert .. welcome to Trainboard! I appreciate your input as to your favorite shortline(s). I also noted that you listed the Bangor & Aroostook Rick. Are you familiar with the Belfast & Moosehead? Do guys have any photos?
Yes, I am familiar with the Belfast & Moosewood Lake, although I have never been there. I always wanted to see their Swedish equipment. I also want to see those HUGE plastic bags...lol... Rick
Well I've only visited two shortlines, the Vermont Railway back in '94 and the Kankakee Beaverville & Southern in 2000, both pretty cool, the VTR had a very smart red paint job, and the KBS had lots of Alco's and a couple of leased geeps, in quite a range of colours! The Alco's were very cool
The Livonia, Avon and Lakeville in Western NY State is my favorite. Originally it connected its three namesake towns, (ex-Erie RR) and ran a steam excursion, which was discontinued in the early 70's I think. A few years ago it bought the remaining section of the old Erie RR Rochester Branch from Avon, NY to Rochester (Genesee Junction). In addition they operate the ex-DL&W line from Painted Post, NY to Wayland, NY, although I don't remember under what name they are operating it. New businesses have opened along both of these lines. The LA&L is also in the process of rehabbing the old Erie lowgrade line from Hornell, NY to Corry, PA which has been mostly abandoned in place for almost 10 years. This will be run by their Western New York and Pennsylvania subsidiary. A very ambitious shortline!!
Welcome to Trainboard PL! It seems that a lot of shortlines that still have some right of way and rails are being snapped up lately by different organizations, primarily for excursions. I wonder if this is a sign that nostalgic rail travel is going to become popular again.
probably my favorite used to be part of the D & RG. Now its the Cumbres-Toltec Scenic. Pretty cool, get a lot of scenery variety in that 65-70 mile stretch
Nice choice Carl! The railroad company that I work for used to run the Cumbres & Toltec until they, (my company) sold and went out of business. I had just learned that the C&T has suspended operations for the summer due to the drought and the fear of cinders starting a fire.
I'm quite fond of the Winston-Salem Southbound Ry, which runs from Winston Salem, NC, you guessed it, SOUTHBOUND thru my hometown of Lexington, on down past High Rock Lake and across the Yadkin River, and ends at the former ACL at Wadesboro.
Sure wish that you had some pics of the motive power and other interesting equipment unique to your favorite road
Okay then, i'll bite, here's three pics from the shortlines i've visited, firstly the Vermont railway, this ones from (I think) June 1994, i'm pretty sure it was Burlington VT, can anyone confirm? Pics 2 & 3 are from the Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern, both taken at Iroquois Jcn IL, Sep 2000. Alco's on multiple levels, ya gotta love it
Well, there was a book published about them... but that's the only pics I've seen of WSSB lettered motive power. They use NS and CSX power now, since each road owns 50 percent of it. (50% N&W, 50% ACL) I'll see if I can get some pics before long of parts of the line as it appears today. Maybe I can get the RR's permission to take pics in the High Rock yard.
My favorite shortline is the Lancaster & Chester Ry., a shortline located between it's namesake towns in South Carolina. It had existed for many years as a conveyer between the textile plants for it's owner-Springs Industries. But, in recent years, the railroad has diversified it's traffic base and now the line handles chemicals, fiberglass roofing material, silica, rolled steel, feed, coal, lumber, and plastic pellets. Last year, the L&C had expanded its operations by leasing a segment of the NS branch from Van Wick through Lancaster to Kershaw, SC a distance of 36 miles. The line operates a fleet of EMD switchers: 2 SW-900's that were bought new and are numbered 90 and 91, which was the whole locomotive fleet untill 1984 when 1 SW-900M numbered 92 that came from the Rock Island was acquired. Also the line has 2 SW-1500's, numbered 95 and 96 that both came from the Vermont Railway in 1995, and 4 SW-1200's from Conrail, numbered 93-94 and 97-98. At present, the railroad is leasing out 3 locomotives from GATX Leasing. 2 SW-1500's and a SW-1001. All three locomotives are former Conrail units. I'm planning to model this line in full in N scale someday, but for right now I'm just acquiring equipment and running trains on a small layout that I'm building. If your interested in the Lancaster & Chester Ry., there is 2 sites worth checking out. The Lancaster & Chester official webpage: www.landcrailroad.com And a site started sometime ago by a railfan that lives in the area: http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/vivienne/438/lchist.html
Welcome to TrainBoard.Com Robyn! And thank you for your contribution to the Narrow Gauge & Shortline forum. I found the links you provided interesting and informative.
In this day of too quickly converting rails to memories, it's always great to see a company that is expanding and thriving! BoxcabE50
Rahway Valley 15 miles long with DL&W, CNJ, LV, and B&O(SIRT) interchanges. Here's my site: http://www.trainsarefun.com/rvrr/rvrr.htm Enjoy. Best, Steve Lynch New York & Western RR
Nice page(s) Steve! I really enjoy railroad history and you have pleanty of it in there. I especially enjoyed the photographs. Thanks for your contrubution to this forum.
Here is a shot of the increasingly rare MidSouth GP10s now owned and operated by the Meridian Southern Railway in Meridian, MS Rick
