Sligo & Eastern

[frisco1522]

Here are a couple of views of a S&E Shay doing her thing over the bridge. Salem Branch experts can identify the location. I'm not sure of the year either. These are from the collection of the late Wayne Leeman, a St. Louis newspaper reporter who did many railroad articles in the '40s and '50s.

[w3hodoug]

MMR Tim Kubat put together a great clinic years ago "Shays In The Ozarks". I think he even gave it during the FMIG Memphis Convention. He copied a lot of the photos from the James Foundation Library in St. James, MO. I went to the library once and thumbed through them - pretty impressive. Anyone researching that branch must spend a day or two at that library.

[meteor910]

When I first saw these pics, I thought the location might be at Dillard over the Huzzah. The hills and the general area look right, but there are probably too many houses and buildings up on the hill for Dillard.

We vacationed a lot at a fishing lodge at Dillard when I was a kid (1950's). The old S&E right of way was still evident then.

Ken

[Karl]

I wonder if a Tichy/Gould flat would be a good starting point for one of those bulkhead flats.


There are lots of details to note:

Pin-connected truss on pile-piers
Four-pile bents
Leaf springs on the flats

Great photos , Don.

[JamesP]

Great pictures - thanks for posting! I know this might be a little off topic, but I wonder if someone who knows Tim Kubat could talk him into posting the "Shays in the Ozarks" clinic on this forum? Besides the S&E, the only other shay I knew about was the Ozarks Southern between Mansfield & Ava - they started operation with a Heisler from the Grandin operation, but had a shay later on.

- James

[wpmoreland719]

I have a photocopy of one of these photographs (the one of the train crossing without any cars ahead of the locomotive), and the caption indicated that the bridge was at Dillard over the Huzzah Creek, which I believe is correct. In comparison to the photo that I posted a month or two ago of Sligo, the bridge there crossing Crooked Creek did not have a truss span. These were the two largest bridges on the line.

Dillard and Sligo were both boom towns at one time, especially Sligo, but both dried up rather quickly after the smelter at Sligo closed in 1922. There just wasn't enough justification to keep the railroad going east of Sligo, although I believe that the section between Goltra junction and Sligo lasted a bit longer, maybe till 1930.

My grandpa has a distant cousin by the name of Robert Earney who still lives in Steelville at the age of 91. I was fortunate enough to talk with him a few years ago, and he told me that his father took him to Sligo (they lived in Wesco) when he was four for a haircut. By this time, the smelter and railroad had shut down, but the equipment was still there. His father took him to the roundhouse, and they climbed into the cab of one of the Shay's. He remembered it being covered in black soot. What a neat experience!

[meteor910]

Thanks for confirming the location of the S&E pics Don posted was Dillard, Mo. As soon as I saw them, "Dillard" screamed out to me in my mind. We had a lot of fun down there on summer vacations when I was a kid - at "The Old Mill Lodge" there upstream a couple of miles on the Huzzah, and Dillard, which were special places for me. We stayed there over fifteen times at least, plus many other day visits. The lodge was run by Mr. & Mrs. Lester Klemme (and dog "Rex"), formerly of Kirkwood, Mo. The mill is still there - now a Missouri State Historic site. It still operates!, and the place is as beautiful and rustic as ever. It's a nice one-day visit from StL in the fall when the trees are in color.

When I was there in 1950's-1960's, there weren't as many buildings up on the hill as there are in these pics. Dillard had long before lost its "boom town" status for sure.

There is a creek that runs through town that drains into the Huzzah - you can see it to the left of the tracks in these pics. It was good for catching crawfish for bait at a place in the background of these pics, close to Cottrell's general store/Gulf station (now closed). On our first visit there (I'm guessing 1952 or 53), we walked over to the creek while my mom was in the store and my dad said "Look, there was a railroad here!" as the r-o-w was quite obvious. The tracks ran along the side of that creek for quite a way as it ran through this very rugged part of Missouri (Crawford County).

Ken

ps - Just checked my USGS maps - that creek was known as the James Branch.

[wpmoreland719]

Ken, can pin-point the exact location of the bridge in Dillard? I've looked for it a couple of time, but can't find any signs of (i.e., pilings, etc). I'm assuming it would be on the west side of the Hwy 49 bridge.

Everytime I think of Dillard, I always think back to Thanksgiving Day 2001. I was working for the Crawford County Sheriff's Department as a patrol deputy and had only been on the road for about three months. I was the only deputy on duty for the entire county that day and while taking a stolen ATV report south of Sullivan, I received a domestic disturbance call in Dillard. I ran with my lights and siren all the way there, and as I was leaving Steelville southbound on Hwy 19, I looked down and noticed there was smoke coming out of my old Federal Signal siren control box. I made it there without catching on fire, and when I got to the residence, the male subject had an active warrant for Burglary 2nd Degree. He was a big 'ol boy, and he didn't want to go to jail. I was very diplomatic with him, and he finally allowed me to take him in without a struggle. Good thing for me.

[meteor910]

Mo 49 runs from the SW to the NE after it comes down the hill from Cherryville approaching Dillard, which sits mainly south of the road. The S&E was, I believe, south of the road but north of the main part of Dillard as it passed by town, running just north of the James Branch creek. The Huzzah S&E bridge was just north of where the creek drains into the Huzzah (see the pics), but I never noticed anything remaining of it to be seen. It could be that after the S&E closed, 49 took advantage of the roadbed for an improved highway. During the 1950's, it was still a gravel road. The old 49 Huzzah bridge (since replaced) looked like a '30's structure, but I'm just guessing. The USGS map does not show the old railroad r-o-w coming through Dillard, which is why I'm guessing MoDOT might have used it. The map does show r-o-w working through the hills on both sides of Dillard.

Your story about your 2001 adventure made me think of the Cottrell boys - I think their names were Luke and Clem. In addition to the Dillard store and gas station, the Cottrell's ran a nice Black Angus farm there. My dad would give the boys a couple of bucks and they would go out in the fields and dig us up a bunch of worms for bait. The Huzzah's bass and bluegill loved them!

Ken