SP/SSW Railroad Trivia

Actually, I believe the "Clover Leaf Route" nickname came about after the time of the TC&St.L. Was associated with a successor named the Toledo, St.Louis & Western RR. There was even a town on their line named Cloverdale (Ohio.)



Boxcab E50

 

Clover Leaf Route train order:






Boxcab E50

 

Clover Leaf Route on USRA form:






Boxcab E50

 

St. Louis Southwestern RR, a/k/a the Cotton Belt. Started out as a 3-foot gauge RR in Texas as the Tyler Tap. IIRC, it interchanged with yet another narrow-gauge RR in Pittsburg, TX, a forerunner of a KAty line that later went to KCS.

So yes Virginia, even Texas had narrow gauge "D

 

Then there was the Houston, East & West Texas, that connected with another narrow gauge line in Shreveport, Louisiana. This was part of an all narrow gauge route that stretched from Toledo, Ohio to Sealy, Texas through Houston called the "Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk." The HE&WT converted to standard gauge on July 29, 1894. It was leased to the T&NO in 1927 and eventually became what is now called the "Rabbit Line" through East Texas. It also connected to the Texas Western Narrow Gauge ran out the west side of Houston with grand plans to cross Mexico to the Pacific. It only got as far as Sealy and was abandoned in 1899. The Imperial Sugar Company also a quite a bit of narrow gauge equipment that it ran on temporary track laid out into the cane fields at harvest time.

 

Well, a little searching, and I spotted this for Nickel Plate Road:

http://www.nkphts.org/history.html#name



Boxcab E50

 

ANd here I thought it was a sarcastic response to the high construction costs.

 

OK, a little more trivia.

Name the railroad who took delivery of the first production SD40-2. Bonus points for the road number and date of delivery.

 

OK, one hint- the railroad is a Class 1.

Notice I said is, not was.

 

No, although they had a potload of SD40-2s.

 

Pat gave the correct answer for RR and date, Windle had the road number correct.

Well done, guys!:thumbs_up: