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This article is from the Encyclopedia of North Carolina edited by William S. Powell. Copyright © 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Graham County Railroad Company

by James Wrinn, 2006

The Graham County Railroad Company 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 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. The railroad's original locomotive, No. 1925, is preserved at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer.

Additional Resources:

North Carolina Digital Collections 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 (accessed June 19, 2012).

Subjects:

Businesses

Gilded Age (1876-1900)

N.C. Industrial Revolution (1900-1929)

Authors:

Origin - location:

From:

Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 2006 | Wrinn, James