While cleaning out my e-mail box today, I found an e-mail sent to me last year by an "elder statesman" of rail history, in regards to a then-failed attempt to preserve a short line for excursions. I post it simply as food for thought and discussion; the emphasis below is mine:

"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 Winifrede Railroad. I photographed St. Mary's gas electric car. But you can't go back."

Not only was the post WWII short line the "portrait of failure" but it was also living on the cast off trash from the changing class one railroads... used light steam as they dieslized, used passenger cars as they either went to streamlined equimpent, used wheels, used rail, used light weight first generation diesels.... Those cast offs either no longer exsist, or are too heavy and too expensive.

Additionally, our railroad system has changed from a mover of goods from producer to user, to a heavy duty mover of commodities from port to distribution center, or from mine to power plant, leaving most of the short lines out of the freight bussiness...

The successful survivors like Strasburg, Grand Canyon, or Silverton are now tourist trains rather than short lines.

Not all of them are failures. The Aberdeen and Rockfish dieselized with new locomotives from EMD, was one of the first railroads in the country to use computers, and was an early user of train radios. We are alive and well in 2008 and still owned by decendants of the original builders thank you.

John Bohon

Here, here! I always loved the A&R - and yes you are right, it is a success story. Now to purposefully generate a side topic - isn't the A&R the railroad that installed a diamond overnight against the wishes of (I think) the ACL or Seaboard?

I suppose you can draw parallels between failing short lines of yore and marginal museum and tourist railroads of contemporary times, but keep in mind that the "Beebe and Clegg" short line was strictly an economic activity, the manifestation of invested capital, and those who bore witness to its decline were merely preserving images of capital being consumed by an unprofitable enterprise - one often caught in a regulatory straightjacket.

Some rail preservation activities may have the look and feel of the such woebegone enterprises - either intentionally or unintentionally - but the railroad museum is organized around emotional rather than economic desires and the availability of unconventional capital - volunteer labor, gifts and donations - can provide sustenance to defy the laws of economics as long as a sufficient number of generous people feel they are obtaining satisfactory reward for their efforts.

Either way, the cost of operating a railroad for fun or profit has grown exponentially owing to regulatory requirements, litigation, and the price of assets and supplies (land, rail, fuel, etc.).

The Beebe and Clegg short line may have been "idolization of a failure" but I recall a favorite quote: There is nothing as romantic as a lost cause. We are naturally drawn to the near-do-wells because we know they are out of place in our world and they might not last. Buy a ticket, take pictures, enjoy it while you can.

Alan Maples

[quote="Alexander D. Mitchell IV"] The Beebe and Clegg shortline was an idolization of a failure.

The romance of failure and decay is the fertile soil in which nostalgia takes root.

I would say that a great number of railway museums are unintentionally successful at maintaining an authentic short line atmosphere. Conversely, there are others that have eliminated almost all traces of the natural grime and wear of railroading. I know that there have been occasional discussions of the merits of preservation and conservation over restoration and reconstruction, but how many folks in our circle here have intentionally and successfully preserved and presented something in a state of arrested decay?

It is perhaps a little dated, but how many have read "The Necessity of Ruins" by J.B. Jackson?

Don't forget the Alexander Railroad- hastily formed in 1946 to take over a 20-mile Southern Railway branchline to prevent its small towns from losing rail service.

The line was the first completely dieselized railroad in the state, and to this day operates only with a 44-tonner, 2 Alco's, and a 50+ year-old SW-9. The line is still operated by 3rd generation family management, and has had record traffic the past few years.

The company has been most helpful in supporting our chapter of the NRHS- the Alexander- and its activities of depot restoration and our current Lawndale project.

Check out www.thejunebugline.com

Matt Bumgarner

Was it Mr. Beebe who said (or wrote): "Enthusiast interest in a given carrier is inversely proportional to its profitability."? (He may have been referring to the Virginia & Truckee)

While the rail museums rely on emotional and romantic attraction of visitors and donors, and may not serve interchange freight [or want to], they are no less costly to operate and maintain. We need to support them by visits, and buying tickets and memberships (rather than chasing only), both to maintain the infrastructure, and also the equipment. How many times do you hear the comment that 'they used to run XYZ, where is that one?' It is likely broken down, needing repair or maintenance, and waiting in line for funds to get that attention. Or pushed aside to static display since it may be less costly to patch together a different piece of equipment for a few years.

Bob Kutella

The midnight diamond story is about the A&R crossing of the former ACL mainline in Fayetteville, NC. Considering this is a signaled mainline and there was once a tower on site I suspect it is just a story. The legend does persist so who knows?

John Bohon

What a fine subject to consider.

Personal opinion, I have always been more attracted to the marginal shortlines and industrial railroads than their mainline cousins - mostly because they are more colorful, informal, personable and approachable. These attributes probably lend themselves to recreating a warm, fuzzy, pleasantly nostalgic expereince to market to our audiences through our museum or tourist time machines.

An interesting irony is that recreating it isn't actually being it. In fact, that can have some pretty detrimental side effects. Nobody wants to accurately deal with the real life implications of unsafe track, marginally useful and potentially dangerous probably unreliable rolling stock, and worst of all the dearth of comfort features like indoor plumbing and a good climate controlled gift shop and visitors center. Like visiting a zoo, we want to enjoy the experience of the tiger without being in the cage with it and risking becoming its next meal.

So to not fail like a marginal short line we need to imitate a marginal short line without actually being marginal in the first place. Unless, of course, you are one of the mainline experience impersonators which isn't so unlike real mainline railroading in perceived reality and execution.

What are we producing to show our visitors today?

dave

Dave -

I have often thought that the BEST example of the "marginal" shortline was the remnant of the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Railroad. At one time the AE&FR was, I believe, a part of the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin. If not owned directly by the CA&E, it was closely tied to it. It ran along the Fox River from Yorkville on the south to Elgin (and perhaps beyond) on the north, acting as a feeder line to the CA&E. Eventually the AE&FR failed and was abandoned, except for a short portion from a connection with the ICRR through South Elgin to the Elgin State Hospital in Elgin, Illinois. This section was purchased and was originally operated with one of the AE&FR's old electric motors and eventually dieselized with a small unit. The lines main reason for continued existance was to furnish hopper cars of coal to the Hospital's power plant. There were also a couple of minor customers en route. For many years, the line operated with only one employee, the owner, who did all of the work whenever the line was called upon to move some freight. As I recall, there were occassions when a second crewman was employed on the train and the original AE&FR Secretary or Treasurer did the paperwork that was necessary to meet the various reports that had to be filed, a job he held well into his 90's. So this was REALLY a marginal shortline; one full time regular person and one locomotive. Developing enough revenue to pay the bills and provide income to the owner.

Of course, the story doesn't quite end there. When RELIC, the group that purchased the equipment of the CA&E after IT'S abandonment years later, eventually looked for a place to run the equipment that they had kept, a deal was made with the owner of this old AE&FR segment. Shortly thereafter, the Elgin State Hospital switched from coal to natural gas to power its boiler and the need for the shortline railroad was gone. RELIC (now known at the Fox River Trolley Museum) acquired that portion of the railroad from the IC interchange up to South Elgin and the rest of the line north from there was abandoned. And so in this case a very marginal short line is still running today as a museum railroad. And has even relaid track south from the IC interchange switch down the old AE&FR right-of-way as far as a new station in a forest preserve location. The marginal shortline has come full circle!

Les

When you speak of arrested decay; I tend to think of the East Broadtop in Pennsylvania.

But when a line has gone to a serious preservation group, I tend to think of our local Bay Area steam museum the Niles Canyon Railway, which has laid something like six miles of new rail and increased the awareness of railroading that Niles village is now looking to build a replica of the long gone 1860s station and move and preserve the the still standing freight house in the village.

Moving east the Illinois Raiway Museum has built and electrified some five miles of track. They even had to go to court to get some of the right of way for the museum.

Forther east the WW&F Museum has put down 2 miles or so of narrow gauge track and built steam railroad facilities to operate their steam trains.

The Seashore Trolley Museum also in Maine has laid track on abandoned right of way and installed wire over it for their electric street cars and Interurbans.

Hats off to the preservation people who have built their rail lines from the ground up!

Ted Miles

The quintessential Beebe and Clegg shortline and its second reconstructor have posted some news.

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steamtrain.org/newsletter.asp
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I wonder how the valuation of the first reconstruction will go? Is there sentimental value for Bob Gray's more or less authentic railroad? Will the last couple miles into Virginia City get rebuilt to modern railroad standards? Its an interesting story... perhaps with personalities and drama as significant as 140 years ago.
O. Anderson