Hello,
I'm following up on a tip from a local of Bertie County, NC that there may be a rusty 19th century steam locomotive with cars in the woods near Lewiston-Woodville NC. I've been researching the railway history of the county and found that there were significant steam-powered logging operations there from the 1880s to 1910s or so, plus the removed tracks from Kelford to Lewiston and Kelford to Hobgood. I recognize that this tip may be false for any number of reasons, but I still think it would be fun to poke around in the woods and look for this thing, so I thought I would check with this community and see if anyone here has heard of said locomotive or has some ideas of places to search.

Interestingly, while doing my research, I also came across a book where on page 34 in a chapter about the Purchace iles of the lower Roanoke River, the author refers to a "huge, abandoned and long-lost logging locomotive" on Bull Run Island near Jamesville. The book is The Inner Islands: A Carolinian's Sound Country Chronicle by Bland Simpson. The preview I read can be found here: https://books.google.com/books?id=DtCzC ... &q&f=false A quick search for "locomotive cashie river" will also find it.

Bennett

Bennett-while I haven't heard about this particular locomotive, there has been discussion here about a logging locomotive in/near Swan Quarter, NC. Swan Quarter is about 42 direct miles from Jamesville, NC, by way of reference. Hope your search is productive, or at least fun...and if you go into the woods etc this time of year there, be very, very careful of snakes, etc.

Link to the Swan Quarter, NC discussion:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35431&p=201060&hilit=swan+quarter#p201060

Thanks for the well-wishes. If I find anything, I'll be sure to collect pictures, location and any numbers and manufacturer stamps I can locate.

Do you happen to have any information on Greenleaf Johnson Lumber Company or Branning Manufacturing Company and the equipment they purchased and operated in Bertie County, especially information in older print sources that wouldn't turn up in a web search?

There have been company run lumber operations that don't seem to make it into the usual railroad data sources, so hope your scrounging shows up something.

Stranger things have happened....and every great once in awhile, one does turn up.
The late Jim Gertz told me in detail about finding one on the Olympic Peninsula in WA. It was so grown over that he was standing right above it on top of the brush.

If you do find something, be certain to accurately mark your position so you can find it again.

Bennett-I don't have any information myself about this area. However, this is a good forum for inquiries. Also, if you can locate/contact Tom Fetters, he may be a great resource. Tom has published several books on logging railroads (Logging Railroads of South Carolina; Logging Railroads in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, volumes I and II). He seems to thrive on this topic-especially in the area of research, topo maps, etc.