The Comp'ny
Locomotive Roster
Rolling Stock Roster
22 Jan 23:
The Surry Lumber Company was the parent company of the Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway. The company was in operation from the late 1800s until 1930.
A few bits of the company were left behind, including this steam engine.
A desk and chair.
Clipboard!
Scotland Wharf.
Link and pin coupler.
22 Jan 23:
#3 Baldwin 0-4-2T
22 Jan 23:
#6 Baldwin 2-6-0 Past and present.
Midwest Creek Railroad.
22 Jan 23:
#4 was a Baldwin 2-6-0 Mogul, she burned wood first then was converted to coal. She ran the main for a while then later shifted to switching.
22 Jan 23:
Photos from the Surry Historical Society Museum, we hope to get back soon to get better images. These were taken through display case glass at an angle with the least glare, then cropped and enlarged. Sometimes you get what you can get.
Baldwin 0-4-2T engines #5 and #7, aka the donkey engines that worked the log cars out of the woods to the main line.
Log cars.
Combination Passenger Coach.
If you have any better photos please drop us a line at lewis.kent@gmail.com
22 Jan 23:
Exciting times, we found remnants of an old roadbed for the Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway near Scotland Wharf on the James River. Looking West, this line ran uphill abit and curved to the right into a large clearing.
This area would have been part of the wye just up the hill from the wharf.
16 Jan 23:
Crittenden, H. Temple. The Comp'ny: The Story of the Surry, Sussex & Southhampton Railway and the Surry Lumber Company. 1967. McClain Publishing. 2022. Third and Fourth Printing by The Dendron Historical Society.
36 years of detailed research, with many wonderful stories and photos. A very entertaining read, and we are sure there are more stories to be told, and maybe a few different versions!
14 Jan 2023:
A 3 foot narrow gauge ran nearby from the late 1800s until 1930, the Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway. The railway was started to support the Surry Lumber Company, and part of its charter from the State included freight and passenger service.
The money part of the company was out of Baltimore, MD while the field headquarters was in Dendron, VA. One end of the line ended on the Scotland Wharf, James River, where the Jamestown-Scotland ferry crossed. Large schooners and later steamships loaded lumber for ports up the James, Chesapeake and all points East. Here SS&S #2, Baldwin Vauclain Compound, waits to run back up the hill around the wye and pick up the mail train.
#2 was the second #2, the first was scrapped when the railway folded, but the bell is still ringing at the Dendron Museum. Skipper field tested it today.
The Dendron sawmill grew to be the largest sawmil East of the Mississippi, with a thriving lumber town springing up around it. Today, its residents number just over 200. While much of the equipment was sold to other industries, a few artifacts remain, one being a steam engine from the saw mill.
One of the SS&S boxcars was lovingly restored by a Dendron family, after spending a few decades as a corn crib.
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| (Image Credit: WR, Dendron Museum) |
The photos inside the boxcar chronicle the restoration, all image credits to WR of the Museum.
Many of the SS&S car bodies and log cars were built on site, with the undercarriages shipped in by the railway. There was no shortage of lumber.
There is some rail to start a new railway...
...and a combination baggage/freight car and R.P.O to rebuild. It served as a cottage for decades until 2003, when it was damaged by Hurricane Isabell. More on a restoration effort soon.
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