If I may introduce SRHA member Dick Fisher…… After a career with WABCO and Southern Railway, Dick is THE expert on air brakes and all manner of hardware. Ike

We need to confirm the term was not more broadly used but here is a SR memo describing Specification F-127 (Sou 75000-75799) and F-200 (Sou 75800-76599) 100-T, 49’ 4003 cu ft hoppers as “Big Reds”. Th

Dan: I don’t think the concept of joining two 50-T hoppers was based on reduced costs. After the “Big John” case was settled (won), the Southern wanted to offer 100-T tariffs on other commodities. Wit

Rodney: If we have anything it would be in the Chattanooga archives…I’m just outside of Atlanta. I’d suggest looking into some of the sites that keep ICC accident reports. Ike

I suspect the Mechanical Dept people did not think FRA inspectors would venture into the wilds of SW VA very often in the late 70s. Defects were visible on many of the yellow ball cars. If one was wre

Evan: Here is a tiny (!) snippet from the SRHA rolling stock data spreadsheets. Many Interstate hoppers were either scrapped because of their age and condition, used in “yellow ball” service, then scr

There are 70 indexes for the 17,000+ files in Southern Railway Presidents’ Files collection in the SRHA Archives. Here is the current version of one of those 70 for the period from 1871 to 1895, just

Although it is a subject that does not get discussed much, scales were a very important feature at many yard, terminals and industries on the Southern. Data on them is quite scattered in the SRHA arch

Charlie: That proposal, certainly the switcher, is in the SRHA archives. The Southern was unhappy with Alco power but because of the anti-trust suit against EMD, they made a last effort with the C-420

There are several sources of data in the SRHA archives that can give us information on track, bridges and structures. For a location such as Ludlow, data may (!) be found in track charts, AFEs (author

There are still diesel order specifications in the SRHA archives that need to be scanned but here are three pages from one version for Southern RS 2101-2125. Orders from the loco builders began with t

Rapido’s work is usually superb. Quite some time ago, they asked for, and received, a number of SRHA drawings. I followed up with them and was told it would be a while before they could get to the Es.

Dan: I don’t expect the Southern would know much about inter-company sales. There could be something on the waybills relating to that but they have not survived anywhere I have seen. Ike PS!!! Does an

Here is one page from a report listing many/all(?) active coal mines on the Southern in 1974. It covers both the St. Charles line on the Appalachia Div. and the Interstate. There are many files discus

Sorry, poorly worded question. The train numbers are on the list...when cars connected to different trains, where did that occur? Ike

By 1966, the Southern wanted to discontinue most passenger services. The passenger "numbers" of all trains were closely watched and used for train-off petitions to the ICC and state PUCs. Here are two

I just saw a message explaining how .io group prices are going up. As the Southern Railway group is well above the 200 subscriber list to remain a basic (sic free) service, it is grandfathered in but

I expect it would be safe to say; the attached letter from the Charlotte Rapid Transit Co. has been sitting untouched in the Southern Railway Presidents' files since it was written in 1912. I think I

Tom: Those (converted wood rack) chip cars were discussed in a TIES article years ago. Maybe someone (Bill Schafer) can tell us which issue? Ike PS They never would have traveled to Columbus, GA. Unlo

Chris: Remember, prior to WWII the Southern was basically an East-West railroad (note the 1921 v 1931 traffic map). A Southern route from Norfolk to Ivorydale (Cincy), OH would have been the most dire