Graham County Railroad Company [1]
Graham County Railroad Company
See also: Transportation: Air and Rail (from NC Atlas Revisited) [3]
The Graham County Railroad Company [4] was one of dozens of logging railways built in North Carolina in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Constructed over steep grades through the Nantahala Mountains [5] between Topton and Robbinsville in 1925, this 12.6-mile line was one of the nation's last railways to use steam locomotives before it shut down in 1970. Bible-quoting, hymn-singing engineer Ed Collins ran the train for almost 40 years. The last run of the Sidewinder, a specially designed geared steam locomotive prized for its strength and agility, was covered by TV newsman Charles Kuralt [6]. The railroad's original locomotive, No. 1925, is preserved at the North Carolina Transportation Museum [7] in Spencer.
Additional Resources:
North Carolina Digital Collections [8] search results for Graham County Railroad Company
Image Credit:
"Brand new Graham County Railroad Company's Shay/ Number 1925 stands outside the Lima Locomotive Works/ factory in Lima, Ohio in February, 1925." Image available from the North Carolina Historic Sites. Available from http://collections.ncdcr.gov [2] (accessed June 19, 2012).
1 January 2006 | Wrinn, James