Dave's Southern Railway System

Southern Railway Related Websites

Please note that I'm intermittently updating this section to cover new sites and changes in old ones. I hope to continue to add annotated links that describe sites. There are so many possible links though. If you'd like to suggest a URL, please email me.

• Take your time at the newly updated Southern Railway website. Larry Puckett, the author, is going all out to produce a great site for the historian and the modeler.
• The North Carolina Transportation Museum, located in Spencer, NC, has a wonderful site that includes a lot of information on the Southern Railway as well as information on the activities at the Museum (including diesel cab rides, excursion trains, viewing displays in the restored roundhouse, and special events).
• The latest site I've found is Steve Smith's website. Steve's site has moved to railfan.net and is still growing by leaps and bounds. Right now he has information on modeling modern Southern Railway diesels. If you are a fan of the Southern you can't go wrong visiting Steve's site.
• Check out Tom Daspit's webpage. His recently moved site covers Southern Railway history, its corporate structure, and describes his Carolina and Piedmont model railroad based on the SR. He also has an interesting list of reference books on the Southern. Finally, for you modelers, he has information on currently available HO scale kits, Floquil paint mixes to match the prototype Southern and subsidiaries, and decals from several sources. I highly recommend you take the time to visit his site.
• Also check out the web page by Barry Kimble. Barry has put together a fine page that includes great graphics, some photographs of Southern Railway prototype equipment and railroadiana, and information on rail-related photography. Barry has 1948 locomotive rosters too.
• A new site I found while wandering the web was Jeff Scarbrough's Railroad Pages of the Southeast. The topic obviously includes the Southern Railway. In fact, Jeff wants help in identifying the destinations stencilled on Southern pulpwood cars. He has a list of known destinations along with the car numbers on which they're stencilled. Enjoy his site and add to his list if you can!
• Thanks to the newsgroup rec.models.railroad, Mike Tennent contacted me about his Washington Division of the Southern Railway (circa 1959). He has photos of his layout, some of the prototype buildings he has modeled, a graphic of his layout, and a description of how the current design evolved. This is a great website for people thinking about starting their own layout based on the Southern because it shows how personal preferences mesh with reality to create a working model railroad. Mike has done a nice job of modeling, web building, and having fun!
• I have to place a link to the only periodical in my experience to regularly cover southeastern railroad modeling, Model Railroading. This is a great magazine “by and for modelers.” I especially like the prototype information mixed in with the modeling articles. This link is my second way of saying thanks to the publisher for producing a great magazine (the first is my subscription :-)
• For the historically minded, browse on over to the Newman Library's website at Virginia Tech listing their early railroad history holdings concerning the Southern and the Norfolk and Western Railways' predecessors. They've got annual reports, minutes of meetings, and letters in their collection donated by Norfolk Southern. If you want to do scholarly research on 19th century railroading in the southeast, this is a collection you shouldn't miss!
• Although technically not about the Southern Railway, Chris Toth's website devoted to the Norfolk Southern is worth the visit. Think of it as the “N”ew “S”outhern and you'll get along fine with the Thoroughbred!
• Another website not technically about the Southern Railway, but one which is so comprehensive and so good that I have to include it, is The Webville and Hypertext Railroad Company site created and run by Chris Coleman. This is a comprehensive site covering railroads, modeling, trivia, and www connections for all. The graphics alone show you how much work Chris has done to make his site appealing. The links show you how much he is working to give up-to-date information!
• Another interesting set of photos is about what used to be a Southern Railway yard at Oak Ridge, TN. These photos are from a cleanup report for areas around the Oak Ridge federal research labs — the SR apparently served the Department of Energy (the Manhattan Project) there. According to the site:

  “The rail yard began operations under the Manhattan Project during construction of the K-25 Site. In 1946, the U.S. Government let a 10-year contract with Southern Railway to provide maintenance and switching services at the site. After the end of the contract, the rail yard operations were decommissioned, 1957–59.”

  Photos: Southern Railway Yard and Asphalt Tank; Round House Road. If you have any details, photos, or memories of the Oak Ridge, TN Southern Railway operations, I would be very interested! Drop me an email.

The round Southern Railway logo is the property of the Norfolk Southern Railway Company.