Should we preserve the "Beebe & Clegg" short l

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:05 pm

The following quotes a friend of mine and long-time rail scholar, very familiar with lines such as the EBT and Stewartstown, in which he debates whether or not we even SHOULD be preserving a line like the Stewartstown:

Quote:

I don't know that you can preserve the shortline of yore because the insurance companies would shudder at the thought of moving passengers over rail unsupported by ballast and ties. I think it is a lost cause except in the memory of those of us who saw it. And, it too was only a memory that encompassed a short span of time. The Beebe and Clegg shortline was an idolization of a failure. The line was built with new ties and new ballast and it failed. It became run down and neglected. The coach ended up at the end of two or three cars of freight behind a hand-me-down leaking tea kettle until the engine could no longer pass the ICC certificate. And in some cases, like the Smoky Mountain Railroad, the line was abandoned with the engine just where it failed out on the line. I'm not sure we want to preserve an example of failure. What Beebe and Clegg photographed was the railroad after the stake truck had captured all the local business and carted it off over paved roads.

Oh, I saw a little of those remains. I saw a kettle simmering on the Bonhomie and Hattiesburg Southern. I also saw a GE 70 tonner working on the Talullah Falls Railroad somewhere north of Cornelia, GA. I road in the engine cab on a 2-10-0 on the Gainesville Midland. I also saw the dead remains of Argent Lumber, Lee Tidewater Cypress Lumber, and the ex C&O 2-8-0s pushed out behind the engine house of the Winifred Railroad. I photographed St. Mary's gas electric car. But you can't go back.

Maybe he has a point............ thoughts?

eldiner · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:39 am **Posts:** 534

But when was the line a "Failure"? Only a handful of railroads were always failures. I would argue that the Stewartstown served its customers well until at least the end of WWII. What might have happened if its connecting line were not severed in 1972 or if the owners expanded in the 70's or the 80's as many lines in the area were cast off to shortlines? The last 20 years might be described as "failure", but was that because they continued to operate the line as if it were 1930? When the Strasburg changed ownership in the late 1950's certainly the line was a failure.

You could revive the Stewartstown with much need track improvements and still keep the flavor of the line alive. Now whether the money to do this would be well spent is an entirely different question.

Alan Maples · **Posted:** Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:47 pm

We all tend to be drawn to railroads of limited economic vitality in part because their very lack of investment capital precludes updating with newer cars, better track, etc., and thus makes them different and more likely to retain the aura of another time. Two things tend to work against preservation of such railroads; first, ever evolving understandings of safety and liability tend to make fixed plant updating and investment mandatory, and second, progressive economic development outside the right-of-way line robs these railroads of their broader setting. A Stewartstown Railroad running through pastoral farmland is loaded with emotional appeal; a Stewartstown Railroad running through suburban housing developments might be a questionable investment of time, money and effort.

Marginal railroads are simply living off of sunk capital and you can only play that game for so long. Sooner or later things just wear out.

Each preservation candidate has its own set of circumstances and its own champions. Whether "we" should preserve the 'Beebe & Clegg' short line is more a question of who "we" is. I donate to organizations that both interest me and which I think have enough traction to survive. Contributing or investing is a highly personal choice and not necessarily transferable from one cause to another.

The best advice is to follow the old rule - "ride 'em while you can." I've got my ticket stubs - from Stewartstown, EBT, Knox & Kane, Southern steam excursions. Maybe you can go back next year. Maybe not.

Alan Maples