Canton & Carthage Railroad

Canton & Carthage in Mississippi ran its large -- by Southern short line standards -- 2-8-2 from Canton to McAfee, representing something like 35.75 miles and maybe more if switching was totted up as well.

John Krause, Rails Through Dixie

The Canton & Carthage Railroad was originally constructed as a lumber hauling road by the lumber mill operation at Canton, Mississippi. In the 1930s and 40s, the road hauled logs up from Pearl River, Louisiana, to the Canton mill via trackage rights over the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. By the 1950s, however, the little road had withdrawn to operating as a simple common carrier railroad to Carthage using its heavy 2-8-2 Mikado steamer #202 from the mill line. Later, the road dieselized with a center cab switcher, but the little Mississippi line closed down by 1964.