Pickens Railway

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Pickens Railway
logo_filename=
logo_size=
old_gauge=
marks=PICK, PKHP
locale=Upstate South Carolina
start_year=1898
end_year=present
hq_city=Pickens, South Carolina

Pickens Railway (AAR reporting marks PICK) is a Class III railroad operating on 2 separate divisions in the Upstate Region of South Carolina:

Easley to Pickens: 9.9 miles

Anderson, through Belton to Honea Path: 28.5 miles

Connections are made with the Norfolk Southern at Easley & Anderson and CSXT (via the Greenville and Western Railway) at Belton. Rail is 85-100 pounds on the Easley-Pickens segment and 85 pounds on the Anderson-Honea Path segment. Traffic includes transportation equipment, lumber, cotton, paper, fertilizer, & fiberglass.

Pickens Railroad History

The Easley-Pickens line was chartered on December 24, 1890 by the South Carolina General Assembly after 2 failed attempts to build a railroad through Pickens from Easley. The line connected with the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railroad (later the Southern Railway) and was completed in 1898.

On the railroad's maiden voyage, the Pickens Railroad suffered a serious derailment that was caused by a local group of boys that had placed spikes on the rails, in their words, "to see what would happen". No one was seriously injured, but caused the fledgling company a serious financial setback, which operated in the red until 1905.

In its early years, it was nicknamed the "Pickens Doodle" because the train would run backwards to Easley and forward to Pickens, which "looked like a doodlebug", according to area residents. The Pickens Railroad, at the time did not have turning facilities until the line built 2 wye sections of track at each end of the line years later.

The Southern Railway briefly acquired control of the Pickens around 1910, however, it was reverted to local interests several years later.

In the 1920s, Singer Manufacturing located a sewing machine cabinet plant on the Pickens Railroad. The plant eventually became its biggest customer and the line was purchased outright in 1939 by Singer. In 1927, the Appalachian Lumber Company built a network of logging lines in the upper portion of Pickens County. By 1939, it too was also acquired by Singer and organized under the Poinsett Lumber and Manufacturing Company. Passenger service was discontinued in 1928 as better roads were built in the region.

In 1959, The Singer Company consolidated its sawmill and cabinet operations with the woodworking operations from Arkansas and the Craftsman power tools from New Jersey to the Pickens location. Several years later (in 1963), Poinsett Lumber and Manufacturing Company had announced that the Pickens Railroad was for sale. James F. Jones of North Carolina purchased the line for approximately $50,000. Jones built a new enginehouse and established a carshop for rebuilding and renovating railroad cars. Jones sold the Pickens in 1973 to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based National Railway Utilization Company, which expanded the carshop to build new freight cars.

In the early 90's NRUC became Emergent Group and sold the railroad to Johnson Rail Service by the late 90s, which renamed the railroad Pickens Railway.

Pickens Expands

In 1991, Norfolk Southern leased the Belton-Honea Path line to the Pickens under the "Thoroughbred Shortline Program". This line was built in the 1840s by the Greenville & Columbia, eventually becoming part of the Southern.

in 1994, the Pickens expanded further by leasing the Belton-Anderson line from Norfolk Southern. This line was built in the 1840s as part of the Blue Ridge Railway. Included was former Anderson trackage that had belonged to CSX previously owned by the Piedmont & Northern and Charleston & Western Carolina.

Pickens locomotive history

The first Pickens locomotive was a secondhand 4-4-0 that was damaged in a derailment on its first trip. It was replaced in 1909 with a new 2-6-2 from Baldwin Locomotive Works and was numbered 1.

The line dieselized in 1947 with a Baldwin VO-660 (built as Singer Manufacturing #2), It was numbered 2 and was later named "T. Grady Welborn". The 2-6-2 steam engine was sidelined until 1955 when it was sold for scrap. Number 2 is still used on the original Pickens trackage.

In 1963, after the line was acquired by James F. Jones, the Pickens acquired a EMC SW locomotive. It was built for the Union Terminal Railroad Of St. Joseph as their #5, it later served as Missouri Pacific Railroad #6005 before it became Pickens #3. It was sold to Duke Power by 1970 and then to a movie company before being acquired by the Thermal Belt Railroad in 1991, becoming their #1.

In the early 70's a Baldwin S-8 was purchased by Pickens. It was built as Youngstown Sheet and Tube #701 in 1951. It became Pickens #5 (which named it "Allan M. Baum") and was sold to SMS Rail Service in 2001.

When the Pickens expanded in the early 90s, it acquired a pair of ALCO S1s that was numbered 6 and 7. These were repowered with Caterpillar prime movers. As of 2007, one of the Alcos (#6), was still on the property, stored inoperable.

In 2000, the Pickens acquired a fleet of former CSX GE U18Bs numbered 9500-9508. Three (9501, 9503, 9507) are used for parts.

External links

* [http://www.railspur.com/Short%20Line%20Railroads/ShRR01.htm Pickens Railway website]
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/vivienne/438/pickens.html Photos and a roster of Pickens's U18B's]