SCHOOLS, MAPS AND RAILROADS
I traveled a lot
in my early years...born in Neenah, Wisconsin on Lake Winnebago near
Appleton, went to nursery school at 3 in public school...moved to Eau
Claire, WI, then to Akron where I had primary and then Kindergarten and
half of first grade...then to Ottumwa, IA in Southeastern Iowa where I
went from 1st to 8th with a 7th grade graduation to junior high.
My granddad worked for the Milwaukee Road and I was out there a lot to get in locomotives. They would tell me about the water-tube and how it never should go dry. Big
boom!..then they would turn the valve and the water would drain
out. BAM. I was out of there and on the ground in no
time. Then to Whitefish Bay (Milwaukee) where the #15 trolley
line stopped (terminated) across the street. Graduated 8th grade
there. This semester had shop on Fridays at the high school and I
had to take the trolley to get there. Darn! Then to Peoria,
IL for high school to mid junior year. Then to Charleston for a year and a half to
graduation from the High School of Charleston. Then to Clemson
for four years. Folks moved in October to Evanston, IL and wanted
me to transfer, but I stayed on as in-state student based on original
registration. Chemical Engineering. Rode the Pickens, the
Tallulah Falls in part, the Cliffside, the Greenville & Northern
and got up to Graham County when it was still all original. Rode
over Saluda Grade in the cab of the Carolina Special with a Road
Foreman and the crew told me all the stories of all the wrecks on the
line along there.
We nearly hit a car near Hendersonville which
sobered us all up. It was a long 1958 Chrysler product and the
lady pulled across the tracks and stopped to enter a highway. Her
wheels were clear, but the tail fins were over the first rail. We
blew the horn over and over and she looked up knowing she was ok.
At the last minute, the highway cleared and she drove on. Never
knew how close that was.
We lived at 160 S. Broad Street, a magnificent
building with great white columns on the north side of the
street, so we were not "South of Broad." This was convenient to
the Market Street area and I bicycled all over the waterfront and up to
Line Street. Regularly followed the meanderings of the PUC 44 ton
on the back streets. I was following it one morning at the docks
when the dock caught on fire and I was the first to spot it burning
about halfway out the length. Yelled for the crew to get help,
and then went home to get a camera. A spectacular fire that took
out a pier with rails on it. It was about a block east of Market
Street.
I was there when the Ashley Bridge was knocked out
and the SAL brought in a commuter train to run from Grove Street to
Route 17 near Ravenel. Rode it over and back. Very slow
boarding and unboarding as no one knew just how it all was to work.
On graduation I gave myself a
trip on the SAL using
the 9900 self propelled slope nosed doodlebug up to Hamlet and the
Silver Star to Atlanta. On the way back, I was extracted from the
heavyweight coach just after we got out of Atalanta and the conductor
put me in a lightweight stainless steel car to sleep until Hamlet when
they woke me for the connection back to Charleston. Now that was
special service. They did not want to have to keep waking me at
the various stops and I got my own car that was dead heading to Raleigh.
I also gave myself a triangle trip: SR up to Union
Station in Columbia, a walk over to SAL Station and the Meteor to
Savannah, and a wait to catch the East Coast Champion back to North
Charleston. Rode in one of the cars with the big windows, to
compensate for a dome.
I worked at the Holly House Restaurant at the V on
route 17 as you left the bridge where one road went up the Ashley, 17
to Savannah and a third road took off for Folly Beach. I was
dishwasher and while the owner was always crabbing at me, I later heard
from my replacement when I went to school that I was held up as the
example of good work ethics. My neighbor friend took my job when
I went to Clemson and later when he came up, he was my roommate.
I had to clean the windows, big plate glass jobs,
and tired of walking forward and shifted to walking backward to use
the other arm. Touched the neon sign with my head near my ear and
woke up with a crowd staring down at me. Jumped up and went back
to work. Finished the 8 hours, rode the bike home and went to
bed. Never told my folks. (Try that stunt today.
You'd be whisked off to the hospital for observation at the very least.)
Tom recommends the following books:
Tallulah Falls Railroad, A Photographic Remembrance by Brian Boyd
- 138 pages including material on The Great Locomotive Chase by Disney -
The Rocky Road to Nowhere by Betty Plisco
- a history of the Blue Ridge Railroad in SC -
Newry, A Place Apart by Michael Hembree
- an intact mill village near Lake Toxaway, served by a Southern Rwy
spur with a steeper grade than Saluda, so steep that the cars had the
brakes set up tight and the engine would drag the cars down the hill -
Tom's book, Logging Railroads of SC, includes
a picture of the J. F. Prettyman Locomotive of Summerville.
No one seems to know of this locomotive's current location, not even
relatives of the Prettymans. Any information in this regard
would be appreciated.
It's interesting to note
that both copies of this book are currently checked out at the Main and
Mt. Pleasant Libraries. Obviously local railfans are on the
prowl! That's good news. The South Carolina Room of the
Charleston Public Library does have a reference copy for those who want
to read the book at the library. (reprinted with permission of T. Fetters)
* April 2004
SAL AND SR
INFORMATION NEEDED
I have been
intensely working on the Champion Fibre lines including Champion
Lumber, Smokemont and the others in the Catalooche are (just west of Interstate 40) and north of Canton.
I found a site on the internet
with an interesting item attached. It was one of the Southern
Railway sites, and there was an agreement between SR and SAL. It
has great interest to your group.
The agreement, dated January 3, 1917, gave permission for SAL to use the SR
tracks to reach the Phosphate district. I think this is just
after the SAL arrived in Charleston. They came down the
Cooper River side to reach the City and cut over on Grove St to bridge
the Ashley. The station was on Grove. The agreement allows
for a connection to the Southern at Grove (located 1 mile from the end
of track on SR) and to use the next 3 miles headed out of town.
This includes the Southern's WEST SHORE TERMINAL RAILWAY which I have
heard of but could never tie down. Not attached, but mentioned as
attached in the text, is a map of the area with the WSTRwy marked
out. This would be great to see.
Reading into the text, SAL had asked to cross the SR and the ACL, but
neither was keen on that. ACL declined after being denied by the
SAL at Cheraw when ACL asked to cross the SAL main there to reach a
customer. So it is a revenge thing.
ACL has a line along the Ashley River, SAL has a line along the
Cooper, and SR has a line down the middle, according to the
notes. The ACL Ashley River line is of interest too as I am not sure
what this line is. SR is very careful to point out that while the
SAL can use the tracks, for a price, they are NOT to carry any traffic
for any other line in the area, which has to be ACL.
Someone in Charleston may want to try to get a good 1917 map of the
Phosphate area to see who owns what. I will try to find a map on
the web. (reprinted with permission of T. Fetters)
* December 2004
MORE LETTERS
Our
friend and scholar, Tom Fetters, has maintained a running dialogue with
our Chapter and we have benefited from his research, which has
gone beyond the man-on-the-street base of information. With
the following letters, Tom shares
information about railroading in our section of the country and even
about the Civil War, with much of his information being counter to the
most popular ideas. His passion for investigating a subject and
his ability to formulate sound ideas based on his investigations make
his contributions very interesting and worthwhile. Read on and
be entertained and better informed:
October 14, 1985
BRANCHVILLE, SC
In the
September 1985 "The Best Friend" (newsletter) there was a short story
on Branchville, SC. I thought I would write with an alternative
version of the story although most fans would agree with the story as
you printed it.
First, the South Carolina Canal
and Rail Road Company (not the SC Railroad and Canal Company) was a holding
company that controlled both the Santee Canal and the Charleston &
Hamburg Railroad. It was the C&H that built the line to
Augusta (actually to Hamburg, SC across the Savannah River from nearby
Augusta) when they mention the parent company, the SCC&RR.
All of this becomes confusing,
but I believe that the average man on the street would be much more
familiar with the C&H than with the SCC&RR if you were able to
go back to 1835 and question him. Note that William Howard, US
Civil Engineer, published his report in Charleston in 1829 on this
subject: "Report on the Charleston & Hamburg Rail-Road to the
President and Directors of the South Carolina Canal & Rail-Road
Company."
The line was built
straight through to Hamburg passing through the area where Branchville
is today, but little was actually there...or at many of the .locations
that later became towns. Most were names for nearby local farms
or plantations: Blackville was two or three log houses and a half
built tavern during the first month of full operation. (It is
interesting to note the bill of fare: 30 passengers shared the
accommodations in five rooms, with a "miserable" meal and then
breakfast for $4.00 at a time when the dollar was really worth
something.)
The Columbia Railroad was the first to
propose a line to Columbia from the mainline of the C&HRR.
This was in 1833, but the company failed in 1835 without building
although the survey was made.
The Cincinnati &
Charleston Railroad was organized in 1835 with the same purpose.
John C. Calhoun and Robert Y. Hayne both had routes in mind to reach
Cincinnati and had bitter arguments over which was better. (The
letter are bound under the title "Controversy between John C. Calhoun
and Robt. Y. Hayne as to the proper route of a railroad from the South
Carolina to the West" by Jno. Cleveland in 1913.
The Cin. & Charl. had its
charter amended in 1836 and emerged as the Louisville, Cincinnati and
Charleston Railroad. Robert Y. Hayne became the president of the
LC&C and he will be familiar to you as former Governor of the State
of SC, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, and first Mayor of the
City of Charleston!
The LC&C had financial
trouble and formed the Southwestern Railroad Bank. The bank was
not responsible for the railroad debts, but the LC&C WAS
responsible for the BANK"s debts!! (The Central of Georgia and
the Georgia RR & Banking Co. are other examples of this form of
financing...C of Ga. had the Central RR & Banking Company in its
corner.)
To finance the new company, they
bought the C&HRR from the SCC&RR on December 28, 1837 for
$2,400,000. (This is the purchase that most people have
forgotten, and a few recall the LC&C as taking over the C&H
operations.) Hayne, himself, talked of this on September 16, 1839
when he said, "The purchases of the Charleston & Hamburg Rail Road
on credit..."
The LC&C reduced
the running time from Hamburg to Charleston from 12 hours to 10 hours
and eliminated the stationary steam engines at the inclined planes by
going to a counterbalanced steam locomotive system (but that's another
story).
In 1838 the
LC&C started construction on the branch to Columbia and 17 miles
were opened in 1840. The .line reached Columbia in 1842 and they
avoided the use of inclines as originally planned for the line.
Years of operating the Aiken inclines had shown the wisdom of going out
of the way to avoid their construction. (This was a lesson to be
learned by the Pennsylvania Railroad when it first took over the
Portage Railroad out of Altoona to the west.) The first train
reached Columbia on June 20, 1842 and the first freight train arrived
on July 1of that year. Total cost of construction was
$2,274,906.21. Interestingly, the first train was hauled into
Columbia by the "Robt. Y. Hayne" although Hayne had passed away in 1839
and never saw the line completed!
This is a rambling
account, but a lot of fun and it may make many of your readers sit up
since it is so different from the popular version of the railroad's
history. I have spent a great deal of time going through the old
issues of American Railway Journals printed at the time all of this was
going on and also utilized a great number of little known sources that
substantially prove that this is what happened. I hope to publish
the entire story sometime when I can find someone who is
interested. Right now I am trying to get the story of the logging
railroads out and this has taken all my spare time for the past two
years. (reprinted with permission of T. Fetters)
Note: The September 1985 newsletter that generated Tom's reply is not a
part of our current inventory, but reading it would be most interesting.
If anyone has that newsletter, we would like to have a copy.
JULY 5, 1989
E. L. MILLER
You may want to add the following information
to your account of E. L. Miller's life:
E. L.
Miller ordered Baldwin's second full size locomotive and the first to
utilize Baldwin's patented "half crank" in which the wheel formed an
arm of the driving crank by the use of an offset extension of the axle
fastened to a wheel spoke. The engine was ordered in 1833.
This locomotive, the Charleston & Hamburg's tenth, was named for
Miller and was completed on February 18, 1834. The E. L. Miller
was the first C&H locomotive to have a swiveling four wheel truck
at the front and a pair of 54" driving wheels with the half crank
located behind the firebox. The drivers were cast of solid bell
metal, but these brass wheels which were to have superior adhesion soon
wore out. No other locomotives were built with the same feature,
although some were built later with brass tires.
The C&H was
disappointed in the performance of the engine and did not order another
Baldwin product until 1836 when its 28th engine, "The Philadelphia" was
ordered.
This
information fleshes out a bit of your story. The E. L.
Miller was sold to the Charleston & Hamburg Rail Road...not to the
South Carolina Railroad. It was the South Carolina Rail Road that
was formed in 1848, nine years later.
I think it
interesting to consider the half crank, the swiveling truck and the
brass wheels as all innovative departures from the C&H norm.
The C&H did try another 4-2-0 with the Sumter, a Stevenson built in
1835. The E. L. Miller was rebuilt by the SCRR in 1845 when it
became the Edgefield (the second of that name) and was scrapped out in
1850. (reprinted with permission of T. Fetters)