The Mighty Narrow Gauge East!!!!

[Hamish K]

The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn - Began with a fleet of Forneys; electified in the late 1920's.  An overlooked gem--narrow gauge mass transit.

 

The Revere Beach locos were Mason Bogies, not Forneys, making the line even more interesting.Some of the later locos were  made by other builders after Mason stopped making them, but these were to the Mson Bogie design  (strictly the Mason-Fairlie design as Mason Bogies were a development by Mason of the single Fairlie design, using Fairlie patents).

Hamish

[scottychaos]

A page about the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad Mason Bogies:

http://www.ironhorse129.com/Prototype/MasonBogie/brplrr_244t.htm

Scot

[C.S.R.R. Manager]

You should also visit Taplines, an excellent website that chronicles railroads in the Southeast, mostly.  I find the Florida lines really interesting.



http://www.taplines.net/

[Tarheelrrds]

Hey Guys
I don't know about mighty Narrow Gauge East or not. There were sure  some interesting operations most were lumber related and died when the timber was cut out.The Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railway of Virgina was one of these and there were hundreds off Swamp RRds in the great Dismal Swamp. The Arbuckle Timber & Stave Co lasted into the late 20s it was mananged by Surry Parker The inventor of the Surry Parker Log loader.The Mt Airy & Eastern Ry was another neat RR operating in the Granite Quarries at Mt Airy NC into Virgina.Yes there is not as much information on the small lines but it is out there if you look hard enough.I have listed some links to info on the web of the railroads that I have mentioned. And remember we had mining in the south also in a two county area of central NC we had iron and coal mining dating back to the Civil war , later they mined shale and talc and later clay for brickmaking all served by early narrow gauge RRds.
http://www.dendronva.org/sss_rr.html

http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/dinkyrr

http://southern-railway.railfan.net/ay/mae/index.htm

Thanks Alan Ashworth

[ebtnut]

As I indicated, my listing was not intended to be exhaustive.  You need to get Hilton's book if you want a reasonably complete listing of U.S. narrow gauge lines.  Hilton doesn't cover non-incorporated lines, like some quarry, lumber and industrial rr's, but it is an excellent reference.  Re;  the SS&S, the Southern Ry. operated a narrow gauge line in the same general tidewater area.  The Ma & Pa had predecessor narrow gauge lines besides the Peach Bottom.  They included the Maryland Central and Baltimore and Lehigh.  Consolidation and standard-gauging occurred in about 1901.

[Dusten Barefoot]

Thanks Alan for those links. They are very usfull.
Rock On & Live Strong
Dusten

[Phil Hoffer]

Another eastern n/g railroad is the Quincy & Torch Lake in the upper penisula of Michigan. This line is a modelers dream. The line hauled copper ore from the deep mine to the smelting  plant on Torch Lake. Most of the locomotives, engine house, and a few cars survive today. If you get a chance to go to Hancock, Michigan you can see this line along with the worlds largest steam hoisting engine, now a museum.

Phil

[Dusten Barefoot]

Alan, are any of those little Carolina engines still here?