Columbus & Greenville Railway

Passenger Equipment

Spotlight: Columbus & Greenville #M-77

The original Columbus & Greenville owned and operated three passenger motorcars, all built by the J. G. Brill Company of Philadelphia. M-75 was purchased in 1925 and was a gas-mechanical railcar, placed into service between Winona and Greenville. The car was a success, but was retired only five years later with the arrival of two newer and heavier motorcar-trailer sets. M-76 and M-77 arrived from Brill in late 1928 as gas-electric cars. Together with their unpowered trailers, both sets operated on the Delta Route until 1948. The cars provided a comfortable ride for Mississippi patrons and a large savings for the railroad, when compared to the higher costs of operating steam locomotives. M-75 was sold to the Louisiana & Northwest Railroad in 1931, M-76 was sold for scrap in the early 1950s, and M-77 (shown here) was sold for use as an office by a local riding club.

Columbus & Greenville #M-77

Columbus, Ms / Mar 1944 / Witbeck photo / collection

Columbus & Greenville #M-77

builder:J. G. Brill Company
model:Model 350
type:Gas-Electric railcar
built:1928, Brill #22694
engine:300 hp
notes:
73' long; 116,000 pounds
to Columbus & Greenville, Dec 1928
retired from service, 1948
carbody sold to private owner, 1952

Brill motorcar plans / drawn by A. E. Baker / collection

Columbus & Greenville #T-86

Columbus, Ms / Mar 1944 / Witbeck photo / collection

Columbus & Greenville #T-86

builder:J. G. Brill Company
type:Motorcar trailer
built:1928
notes:
73' long; 80,000 pounds
built as trailer for M-76
converted to MoW boarding car, 1948
scrapped, 1972

Motorcar

In December of 1972, John photographed the remains of motorcar M-77 near Columbus. His field notes are shown below. The M-77 body was purchased as scrap for use as storage for the Bluecutt Riding Club.

all photos Columbus, Ms / Dec 1972 / JCH
all field notes drawn by John C. Hawkins

Coaches

Much of the earliest unpowered passenger equipment on the Columbus & Greenville was turn-of-the-century wooden rolling stock purchased from former parent Southern Railway in Mississippi. Later on, in the mid 1930s, the C&G purchased a batch of ex Reading coaches and baggage-postal cars to improve the condition of its scheduled daily train, the Deltan. After the cessation of all C&G passenger service in 1948, many of the coaches and motorcar trailers were converted into storage and boarding cars for the company's Roadway Department. As the collection below demonstrates, much of the beleaguered equipment hovered around the Columbus shops well into the 1970s.