User:WOODSJD/sandbox

BACKGROUND
The Railroad Historical Center in Greenwood, South Carolina is dedicated to preserving upstate railroad history. The museum is static and does not offer rides however the equipment is restored for tours and various interpretive events showing how the various pieces of equipment would have been used. Greenwood, SC was a major railroad town being served by 4 railroad companies, including the Southern Railway, Seaboard Airline Railroad, Piedmont & Northern Electric Railway, and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (formerly the Charleston & Western Carolina), however today the rails up main street have been removed, leaving just the former Seaboard line around the edge of town down to the 1980s era Maxwell Yard. Sadly all 5 stations were razed, however the farmer's market was built on the site of one with a railroad style, and the Railroad Historical Center hopes to rebuild a replica of the Southern Railway Station which stood from 1903-1952.

History
The Railroad Historical Center was founded in 1969 by a group of area rail enthusiasts led by L.B. Adams and Charles Herndon, Jr. The collection began with the purchase of Rockton & Rion Railway No 19, a steam locomotive from a quarry near Winnsboro, South Carolina built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, in 1906. The engine ran for the Anderson Quarry until 1963 and was serviceable until 1965, one of the last steam engines to run in the state. The locomotive was purchased for $11,000 along with her tender, which had its original riveted body replaced with a welded one by the Rockton & Rion. However after sitting out of service, the coal bin wad deemed to damaged for the trip, so it was cut off, and the tender made the trip up to Greenwood over the Southern without the bin, which remains near Winnsboro today, on the property of the South Carolina Railroad Museum. Over time the collection grew to include the 19, a Piedmont & Northern Interurban (the last one extant), Piedmont & Northern Railway Business or Office Car "CAROLINA", Erie dining car, Erie Pullman 6-6-4 Sleeping Car, Piedmont & Northern Caboose, and a Seaboard Air Line "American Flyer" Coach. The site grew in the 2000s to encompass the former Palmetto Bank building. The future looks bright, the old house is to come down in late 2018 or early 2019 to make space for the replica station.

Rockton & Rion Railway No 19
The 19 is a 1906 Baldwin 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam engine. Being built in 1906, she is the oldest surviving "standard gauge Mikado", the first of 4 ordered for use on the Woodward Iron Company of Alabama. 2 of these, 19 and 31, were later sold to the Rockton & Rion through a dealer in Atlanta. Both of these engines, never glamourous passenger engines, gained fame in the 1960s when the Rockton & Rion continued to rely solely on steam on their 11.7 mile line. However things changed when the company changed ownership. 19 was sold and end up in Greenwood, 31 finally ended up in Waycross, Georgia in 1973 at the Okefenokee Swamp Park. Eventually the entire line ended up as the South Carolina Railroad Museum. One steam engine from the line, secondhand Atlantic Coast Line 712, long time the Rockton's backup engine due to weight remained on site, though privately owned, and in poor condition.

Piedmont & Northern Railway Interurban No 2102
One of the most unique vehicles in the collection is Piedmont & Northern Railway Interurban No 2102. The car was built by the Southern Car Company, a predecessor to the Perley A Thomas Car Company, today known as Thomas. The 2102 was built as a 2500 series "trailer", an upowered interurban that had dummy controls, so that it could be coupled to an interurban for extra passenger seating, and control that unit via electric "MU" (Multiple Unit) cables. In 1919 the unit was rebuilt as a powered 2100 series interurban, given motors, 2 trolley poles on the roof, and a 10ft baggage section was added, with steam heat boiler, making 2102 entirely self sufficient. The interior was filled with gorgeous wood finish, rattan "walkover" seats, which could be flipped to face either way, and elegant brass lights. It operated until 1951, when it was part of the last P&N passenger service out of Greenwood. During her life the rattan was replaced with wood and finally Naugahyde. Mechanically, the original trolley poles were augmented by a large metal pantograph, and the unit rebuilt to use 1,500v DC rather than 600. After her last passenger run in 1951, 2102 sat idle and was occasionally used as a buffer car. In 1953 2102 was rebuilt as an instruction car, used to train student engineers and employees. All the seats were removed, the controls removed, electrics removed, and the original clerestory roof removed. Desks were added atop a linoleum floor, and a mockup control stand for the P&N's ALCos installed. The car was moved to Greenwood in 1969 along with the CAROLINA. 2102 is currently (as of 2018) the only unrestored car. However, work is being undertaken to restore it, but not to 1950s configuration, but 1930s-40s style. Walkover seats from a Lackawanna MU Car in Pennsylvania have been installed, and fundraising work is underway to restore the clerestory roof, brass lamps, toplight (or transom) windows, and the control stand.

Seaboard Air Line Railroad Coach No 831
Lionel popularised the "American Flyer", and this type of coach became known as such. The 831 was part of the SAL's first order of Pullman-Standard lightweight coaches, in 1937, shortly after the first lightweight prototype was built. Initially the coach had full side skirting covering the wheels and small paired windows like a heavyweight, but it was later rebuilt following the Second World War with large picture windows (they did not open so size was no issue, as it had been in the heavyweight era), and the interior redesigned. The 831 is a "Jim Crow" segregated coach, a lasting reminder 0f a troubled time in American past. The main difference in ends is the women's washroom in the white end has a makeup "lounge" included, and the presence of lavs rather than sinks in the colored end. The car has been restored to 1950s style when it would have been streaking through the South (and sometimes Greenwood) on one of the Seaboard's name trains such as the Silver Meteor, Silver Comet, and the Champion.

Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Diner-Lounge 746
Built in 1925 by the Pullman Company to Plan 3952C.