Sligo & Eastern #7

[roger]

Sligo & Eastern #7 at Roulon, MO. Date unknown. Photo from St.James, MO. library. Copied by Pat Moreland.

[JamesG]

My Grandfather, Hiney McGinnis, was the last Suoerintendent if the Sligo and Eastern Railroad and the Sligo Iron Works. He was once the Master Mechanic of Sligo and Eastern. I am interested in pictures of the Sligo and Eastern, especially the Shay locomotives. I believe there were 3 Shay locomotives made especially for the railroad. Does the St James Library have any more pictures of the Sligo opration and equipment?

[Karl]

There is a Shay website, http://www.shaylocomotives.com/ , that is second to none. Specs and dispositions of all three Sligo Furnace Shays are listed, and there is a photo of #4 or #6, which are identical. The locomotives are listed by serial number.


SN 1744 -#4
SN 1929 -#6
SN 2883 -#7

[meteor910]

Interesting!

When I was a kid (1950's-1960's), we would vacation one or two times per summer at the "Old Mill Lodge" at Dillard, MO, on the Huzzah river. It was a great place - rustic mill, neat dam and mill pond, and great fishing and meals. I loved it. It is now a Missouri Historic Site, and the mill is still there.

Just before you came into Dillard on MO-49, the road crossed a small creek along side of which ran the old road bed of, I assume, the Sligo & Eastern. You could still make out that it was a former railroad, obviously a narrow gauge.

We would take a break from fishing and go on field trips into the Mark Twain Forest, including several visits to Sligo. MO. I recall a few ruins of the former Sligo Iron Works, and the slag piles, which I assume are still there. We would climb up on the slag piles - more times than not getting a bunch of chiggers in the process! I still have a piece of "Sligo Slag" around here somewhere.

Good times. :)

I'd like to learn more about the Sligo operation and the railroad. Does any one have suggestions for references?

Ken |-|

[Rick Morgan]

I'm unaware of any comprehensive references on the SL&E; from my notes though, it was chartered as a standard gauge line in Aug 1902 and abandoned Nov 1929. Operations were over 33 miles, from a connection with the Frisco at Sligo to Bixby and beyond, to a point called East End. As of 1926 the Equipment Register states they had three locomotives; presumebly the Shays they bought from Lima (#4, 6, 7, built 1906, 1907, 1916). (which, of course, makes you wonder what nos. 1-3 and 5 were...) There was also a Davenport 2-6-0 listed as built for Sligo Furnace in Apr '05.

Rick Morgan
O'Fallon MO

[meteor910]

Thanks - standard gauge. Interesting.

I remember years ago (1980's) Tim Kubat did a seminar on the Sligo and other shortline roads in Missouri at one of the early Springfield RR meets. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend it.

There also was a book I remember from my young days - "Pioneers of the Ozarks", by Leonard Broadfoot, that had some general comments on the Sligo Iron Works and the TT's in the area. I don't remember any details, however.

Ken