Southern Railway Steamboats and Steam Engines Portsmouth-Norfolk

22 Jan 23:

We like boats and we like trains. We especially like old boats and old trains back in days of steam power. Here's a photo from a while back of the steamboat MEMPHIS waiting to take Southern Railways train passengers across the Elizabeth River, back and forth between Portsmouth VA and Norfolk. 

For those who didn't know it, Norfolk is an island, even modern day we must take a bridge, tunnel or boat to get from the mainland. The good tug MEMPHIS alternated between passenger runs and moving train car barges across the river. 

FMI: Southern Railway

Driver Station

02 May 22:

Driver, VA Depot.

Atlantic Coast Line

The Comp'ny: The Story of the Surry, Sussex & Southhampton Railway and the Surry Lumber Company

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!

Reprints available through the Dendron Historical Society and the Surry County Historical Society.

FMI: S,S&S

Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Locomotive Roster (Updated)

16 Jan 23:

Locomotive Roster 1967, with a few updates.

Editor's Note: We give the admirable credit and deep appreciation to Mr. H. Temple Crittenden for compiling his decades of research into the book The Comp'ny, and to the members of the Dendron Historical Society for pushing a project through to see a fourth printing of the book in 2022. And most especially, gratitude to the families and friends of S,S&S and the Surry Lumber Comp'ny, who have shared their stories and to those descendants who will soon share their own remembrances.

Builder / Built /Acquired / Class / Builder's No. / Wheel Arrangement / Cylinders / Drivers 

1 Tanner and Delaney / Dec 1883 / - / - / 2-4-0 / - / - /

Note 1: Taken over from David Steele in 1886. Named CORNELIA. Logging tramway locomotive.

1 Richmond L & M Works / 1891 / - / 2169 / 0-4-2T / 7"x14" / - /

Note 2: Built for J. E. and Edward Rogers of Loco, VA. No. 1 on that logging train.

1 Baldwin Loco Works / Jul 1917 / - / 45923 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30

2 Baldwin Loco Works / Sep 1886 / 8-14C25 / 8119 / 4-4-0 / 10"x16" / 43"

Note 3: Sold by S,S&S. In service on Rocky Mount and Northern R.R.

2 Baldwin Loco Works / May 1892 / - / 12075 / 4-6-0 / 9/15"x22 / - 

Note 4: Vauclain Compound. Built for Altoona, Clearfield and Northern as No. 3 Sold by that road to the Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Ebensburg and Eastern, then to S,S&S.

 #2 Vauclain Compound at Scotland Wharf. Image credit: Hollerith Collection

3 Baldwin Loco Works / Feb 1888 / 6-10-1/3C-23 / 9042 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

(Image credit: H. Temple Crittenden. The Comp'ny. 2022 (4th Printing). Dendron Historical Society. McClain Printing Company)

4 Baldwin Loco Works / Oct 1888 / 8-18D70 / 9576 / 2-6-0 / 12"x18" / 37"

(Image credit: The Comp'ny.)

5 Baldwin Loco Works / Oct 1889 / 6-10-1/3C-29 / 10399 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

Note 5: Sold to Southern Iron and Equipment Co. in Atlanta, GA, as their Item No. 1789.

6 Baldwin Loco Works / Oct 1891 / 8-18D74 / 12288 / 2-6-0 / 12"x18" / 37"

Note 6: Named MARIA. Sold to Argent Lumber Co. Running at Midwest Central Railroad in Mt. Pleasant, IA as of 16 Jan 2023. https://www.mcrr.org/

7 Baldwin Loco Works / Sep 1891 / 6-10-1/3C / 12254 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

Note 7: Sold to Planters Box Company, Suffolk, VA. 9/1924.

8 Baldwin Loco Works / Aug 1896 / 10-22E20 / 14988 / 2-8-0 / 14"x18" / 37"

9 Baldwin Loco Works / Jul 1892 / 6-10-1/3C-43 / 12805 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

10 Baldwin Loco Works / May 1898 /  10-22E24 / 16011 / 2-8-0 / 14"x18" / 37"

11 Baldwin Loco Works / Aug 1902 / 0-4-2T / 6-10-1/3C-59 / 20863 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

12 Baldwin Loco Works / Feb 1901 / 10-22E30 / 20057 / 2-8-0 / 14"x18" / 37"

13 This number was not used.

14 Baldwin Loco Works / Nov 1902 / 10-22E31 / 21236 / 2-8-0 / 14"x18" / 37"

15 Baldwin Loco Works / Aug 1902 / 6-10-1/3C-60 / 20864 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

16 Baldwin Loco Works / Jun 1917 / 10-22D86 / 45714 / 4-6-0 / / 14"x20" / 46 1/2"

Note 8: Sold to Southern Iron and Equipment Co., Atlanta, GA. No. 2283, and by them to International Agricutural Corp.

17 Baldwin Loco Works / Sep 1902 / 6-10-1/3C-61 / 20933 / 0-4-2T / 8"x12" / 30"

18 Baldwin Loco Works / - / - / - / 2-6-0

Note 9: Nothing definite is known of this engine. Sold to Gray Pine Products Company.

19 H. K. Porter Company / 1880 / - / 399 / 0-4-2T / 9"x16" / - 

Note 10: Built for Milner Caldwell and Flowers Lumber Co. as No. 2. Sold to Southern Iron and Equipment Co., No. 1024, and by them to the S,S&S on 4-23-197.

20 Baldwin Loco Works / Nov 1919 / 10-18 1/4 D37 / 52587 / 2-6-2 / 12"x18" / 37"

21 This number was not used.

22 Baldwin Loco Works / Nov 1919 / 10-18 1/4 D38 / 52588 / 2-6-2 / 12"x18" / 37"

23 This number was not used.

24 Baldwin Loco Works / Oct 1920 / 10-18 1/4 D-43 / 53795 / 2-6-2 / 12"x18" / 37"

25 This number was not used.

26 Baldwin Loco Works / Oct 1920 / 10-18 1/4 D-43 / 53796 / 2-6-2 / 12"x18" / 37"

Note 11: Sold to the Gray Lumber Company, Waverly, VA., in 1929. In storage at Pine Creek Railroad, Altaire State Park, NJ as of 16 Jan 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Museum_of_Transportation

Ref:

Crittenden, H. Temple. 1967. The Comp'ny. The Story of the Surry, Sussex, and Southhampton Railway and the Surry Lumber Company. McClain Printing Company. 4th Printing available through the Dendron Historical Society. 

Many thanks to the Dendron Historical Society for keeping this history alive! 

Any updates on the locomotives would be greatly appreciated. Please post a comment or send an email to lewis.kent at gmail

FMI: Locomotive Roster

KANAWHA

16 Jan 23: 

Seems if want to have a luxury yacht all we need to do is start up a little railroad, using some of our spare oil baron money. KANAWHA would be a good tender for our small boat Armada.

"Kanawha was a 471-ton steam-powered luxury yacht initially built in 1899 for millionaire industrialist and financier Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840–1909). One of the key men in the Standard Oil Trust, Rogers was one of the last of the robber barons of the Gilded Age in the United States. Rogers was a major developer of coal and railroad properties in West Virginia along the Kanawha River., including the Virginian Railway. Aboard the Kanawha, he frequently hosted his friends, including American humorist Mark Twain and black educator Booker T. Washington."

What is more interesting about KANAWHA is her second and third careers. We'll get into the Virginian more as we explore our new territory.

FMI: 

KANAWHA

Henry Huttleston Rogers

Virginian Railway

Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway

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.

(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. 

(Image: The Comp'ny by H. Temple Crittenden. 1967.
Available for sale through the Surry County Historical Society)

FMI: Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Railway

Surry, Sussex and Southhampton Combination Express and R.P.O. Car

14 Jan 23:  

Combination Express and R.P.O.

(Image credit: The Comp'ny)

Remnants of the car at the Dendron History Museum. Needs a trip through the car shop... there is a discussion as to how to best stabilize and/or restore.

FMI: S,S&S Rolling Stock