egyptian_i n this our most extensive collection, we are proud to feature locomotives, rolling stock, and location shots from dozens of independent and conglomerate SHORTLINE railroads both current and defunct, both well known and obscure. Deep South pikes form the core of this collection, but many shortlines along the eastern coast and in the midwest are also included. Many lines were photographed during the transition from steam to diesel motive power, and many more feature first- and second-generation diesel-electric movers. Newer collections represent our ongoing quest to explore and represent southern and eastern contemporary shortlines before they are absorbed or abandoned. Here at HawkinsRails, the shortline railroad is king of the road!

paritius_t he story of American railroads has been told many times, and the ramifications of their growth have been explored by masters in the art of history and storytelling. The flamboyant romance of the our great rail systems has been extolled by learned authors and motion picture studios. But one aspect of America's rail lore has been neglected like a country cousin, and that is exactly what it is: the realm of the shortline country railroads. The very nature of the little pikes makes them unique in contrast to the coldly efficient transcontinental systems. The story of the shortline railroads needs to be told before it is too late. Our little country-cousin roads are quickly disappearing.

Clifton E. Hull / 1969


Premier

Featured

Transition Era
Bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern Canton & Carthage Chattahoochee Valley Fernwood, Columbia & Gulf Hartford & Slocumb Mississippian Mississippi Central Mississippi & Skuna Valley Sumter & Choctaw
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paritius_i t has been most interesting to discover that slow trains have thousands of other admirers who, for reasons which defy analysis, likewise seem devoted to their welfare. This point should be clearly understood: We do not ride them, or write about them, to make fun of their obsolete equipment and generally old-fashioned ways. The hobby has much in common with other nostalgic pursuits such as collecting trivets or doing over old farmhouses. Yet there is a considerable difference, too.

Any operating railroad, however small, is a living thing and not a curio. Its financial and personal roots go deep into local history and pride. It is almost true that the smaller the railroad, the more important it seems as an institution. Sentiment and dollars and cents get all scrambled up in a most delightful way, and it is for the spiritual qualities which they represent that many small, obsolete trains are passionately defended when their abandonment is proposed. Perhaps the sense of the community is so precious to us that any institution which symbolizes it takes on a value greater than the Interstate Commerce Commission will allow.

Archie Robertson /
Slow Train to Yesterday / 1943

Contemporary
Ashtabula Carson & Jefferson Ashley Drew & Northern Arkansas Louisiana Missouri Arkansas & Missouri Apalachicola Northern Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Aberdeen & Rockfish Alexander Ashland The Bay Line Buckingham Branch cpr_ad Chattahooche Industrial East Tennessse Everett gc_ad Gloster Southern grlw_ad gw_ad hmcr_ad hrt_ad Kiski Junction Louisiana & Delta Louisiana & Northwest Meridian & Bigbee msdr_ad Mississippi Export New Castle Industrial New Orleans Public Belt Sandersville wgcr_ad Western New York & Pennsylvania
West Virginia Central Yougnstown & Southeastern

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paritius_i n the beginning all railroads were short lines. Most early charters were issues for railroads that magnitude of the 17-mile Mohawk & Hudson and the 26-mile Boston & Lowell. Few companies had the ambition of the Baltimore & Ohio: Baltimore to the Ohio River, which turned out to be nearly 400 miles, once they built it and measured it. Most of the early railroads soon combined with their neighbors to form longer railroads. Some short lines remained in existence for a variety of reasons: the owners were making sufficient return on their investment; shippers and passengers were content with local control; if the short line connected with only one large road, the large road was assured of the short line's business: the short line wasn't sufficiently profitable to attract the notice of a larger road.

The dominant trend, though, was for merger and growth, and that trend continued from the beginning of the railroad era in the United States through the 1960s - sometimes faster, sometimes slower, at first to meet competition from other railroads, later to meet competition from other modes of transportation. In 1970 the situation was altered suddenly and drastically.

Edward A. Lewis /
American Shortline Railway Guide

Holding Companies


Rebel Routes

Shortlines
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Gulf Mobile & Ohio Illinois Central Illinois Central Gulf

egyptianur roots are firmly planted in the Deep South — especially in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. As such, we've always had a keen interest in the southern ends of the Gulf Mobile & Ohio and Illinois Central north-south mainlines. This interest includes their their shortline predecessors and successors or shortlines which connected to their mainlines. That's why we've gathered here all our shortline materials related to our Rebel Routes family tree collection in Mainlines. Welcome aboard!


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See also our Rebel Routes featured Mainlines and Preservation collections

Southern Shortlines

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egyptian outhern Serves the South. has been a fan of the mighty Southern Railway system since the 1940s, when as a kid John would watch the streamlined Southerner come and go from his native New Orleans. Much later, Ralph came of age on high-hood road switchers in Southern tuxedo stripes. As such, we've assembled a large Southern fallen flag scrapbook over in our Mainlines pages. Here in this collection, we've pulled together all our scrapbooks for shortlines that had a connection to the Southern Railway. Some were Southern subsidiaries, others were spinoffs, and most depended on the Southern for interchange service. Enjoy these shortline links, and remember: "Look Ahead. Look South."

Wiregrass Routes

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egyptian ith our deep roots in the Deep South, over the decades has enjoyed a great deal of railfanning in "Wiregrass Country" — southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia, and the panhandle of Florida. A large region known for its great agricultural and industrial bounty, many a shortline railroad has come and gone among the official grasslands of the South. Here in this collection, we have gathered to a bundle all of our shortline scrapbooks that relate to this interesting region of the country. Take a walk through the fields and join us, trackside.

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Tedder Shortlines

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egyptian tation clerk. Army transportation chief. Railroad president. Shortline author. Southern Gentleman. A man of deep faith and many friends. The late Samuel Russell Tedder (1935-2019) conducted a remarkable career in Deep South shortline railroading. From humble beginnings as a teenage station agent in the panhandle of Florida, Mr. Tedder worked his way up to retire as Georgia Pacific's director of corporate rail service. Along the way, he watched over dozens of successful shortline operations. He served as chairman of the board of the American Shortline Railroad Association. With G-P railroads, he left his mark on the locomotive fleet by designing the corporate paint scheme — including his trademark "Tedder Green" (above). In retirement, Russell authored ForestRails: Georgia-Pacific’s Railroads, a 500 page volume illustrated with over 600 photographs depicting the history of the G-P railroads.

Always a friend to railfans, the Hawkins enjoyed many an excursion on Mr. Tedder's shortlines (always wearing our respective hats). In his retirement, Russell was a great supporter of . He contributed lots of written materials and many images to our shortline scrapbooks. He and John worked together to produce O Scale models of Live Oak Perry & Gulf motive power. In gratitude for his great friendship over so many years, we've gathered here all our collections for shortlines with which Mr. Tedder had an association. Long live Tedder Green!

Rust Belt Routes

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egyptian decade living north of Pittsburgh introduced to railfanning in the so-called Rust Belt region, the railroad-rich industrial heartland of America. We enjoyed cataloging a number of great shortlines in these states, especially around western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. We have gathered these scrapbooks here in our Rust Belt Routes collection.

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All Collections


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paritius_t he surviving short-line railroads, which are of more than sentimental interest to their hundreds of thousands of employees and bondholders and to the twelve thousand small towns located on their tracks, have their own organization, the Short Line Association. Nearly two hundred are too poor to pay the modest dues which would make them members; their average length has been estimated at twenty-five miles and the average age of their engines at twenty-five years. Their standard definition is a railroad which is short in mileage, or in revenues, or in both. They also have their own song, sung at a Short Line Association Convention:

We're just as wide,
Though not so long,
And that is why
We sing this song.
Happy day, Happy day,
When dividends
We all will pay.

Archie Robertson /
Slow Train to Yesterday / 1943

Archie Robertson / Slow Train to Yesterday / 1943

The Name Game

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egyptian hat's in a name? When it comes to railroads, a lot. And shortlines are no exception. A strong name sets an operation apart from other lines, tells a story about where trains are going and where they've come from, and — when a moniker rolls playfully of the tongue — brings a smile to a railroad historian's face on down the line. A good appellation can even make the shortest of shortlines sound like the Standard Railway of the World. Here at , we've always enjoyed a superlative shortline surname. Gathered below are scrapbooks for some of our favorite roads with beloved names. Enjoy each excellent epithet!

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paritius_t he steam railroads of the storied and humble South were, like the land, in variance. Bridging distance were such carriers as the Southern Railway itself. Those of scant mileage were typified by North Carolina's 3-mile Cliffside Railroad. Both painted some of their locomotives green. Like the Southern, the Cliffside often ran indifferent to speed; but that was because Cliffside had no place to go. There were, too, Dixie railroads whose motive power was not so lavishly painted — and sometimes was not painted at all, getting along as best it could with numberless tenders and rusted appurtenances.

Inventiveness came second nature to men who operated neglected locomotives. Nearly all of the South's railroaders shared alike in the meeting of life and job with honesty. They worked hard and frequently long. They knew what it was to laugh with themselves, at themselves, and at their locomotives. Laughter proved a satisfying emotion. The men spent lifetimes on the railroad enjoying it. Most of these railroaders worked unheralded. They lived on hayseed farms and in hick towns, but no matter. It was home. It was a home with ham and chicken in the center of the table and a blessing on the side. The head of the family, were he a trainman, may have missed full schooling, but he usually made up for it with ingenuity and geniality. He was, to those around him, as much a hero as one of the South's greatest — Casey Jones. The people would hear of Illinois Central's Casey, but they knew the unfabled man who rode the tracks beside their homesteads.

Every one of these men was a part of the United States.
More important to Southerners, he was a part of us.

H. Reid / Extra South / 1964

Louisiana Rail Productions

Links