Sumter & Choctaw Railroad
Reincarnation of a Southland short line engine added much to the total of the afficionado's happiness when Middletown & New Jersey, a tourist line, rehabilitated Sumter & Choctaw's 2-6-2 #103 which thereby was spared from accumulating more rust and vines at its storage track at the Bellamy, Alabama, yards of American Can Company. Jersey rejuvenators thoughtfully included floppy white extra flags, once in vogue for unscheduled runs.
John Krause, Rails Through Dixie, 1965
A small lumber mill road serving two namesake counties in western Alabama, the Sumter & Choctaw Railroad was owned by Allison Lumber Company, the lumber mill operation at Bellamy -- on U.S. 80 west of Demopolis.
At one time, the little pike was no longer than the four mile long connection track out to the Southern Railway.
The mill operated two Baldwin steamers as late as the early 1960s.
Remarkably, both locomotives exist today in storge in two different railroad museums in the north.
The SC also operated a small motorcar when passenger service was provided.
See also our complete Sumter & Choctaw scrapbook in Shortlines
Sumter & Choctaw #102
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Sumter & Choctaw #102
Baldwin class 12-28 1/4 E 26
retired 1962 with cracked boiler
to National Railway Museum, Wisconsin
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / Sep 1941 / collection
Sumter & Choctaw #103
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Sumter & Choctaw #103
Baldwin class 10-24 1/4 D 160
to Empire State Rwy Museum,1962
to Valley Railroad, 1970
to Railway Museum of New England
builder's photo / Richard King collection
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / May 1960 / JCH
Bellamy, Al / Sep 1941 / collection
Essex, Ct / May 1987 / collection
Links / Sources
- John Krause, Rails Through Dixie (Golden West Books, 1965) 118-19
- Mississippi Rails page for Sumter & Choctaw
- Wikipedia article on Sumter & Choctaw #102
- National Railroad Museum - current owner of SC #102
- Railway Museum of New England - current owner of SC #103