Hartford & Slocumb Railroad

"Owned by the Shippers We Serve"

This is the pattern of all the little mixed freight and passenger trains which, since the dawn of railroad time, have served the far places and humble destinies of a nation living by the flanged wheel on the steel rail.

Lucius Beebe & Charles Clegg, The Age of Steam, 1957

The Hartford & Slocumb Railroad was incorporated in 1954 to purchase and operate a branchline of the Central of Georgia Railroad -- a short section of rail between Hartford and Dothan, Alabama. In recent years, most of the traffic on the HS consists of moving cars in the road's large lease pool fleet (nearly 6,000 cars in 1996) to and from a maintenance facility on the line. Interchange is maintained with the Norfolk Southern, CSX, and the Bay Line at Dothan. In 1992 the line was abandoned from Taylor to Hartford, and the remaining pike was purchased by the Gulf & Ohio Railway. The railroad exists today as the H&S Railroad Company.

Motive Power

Hartford & Slocumb #1

Alco S1 (1942) / Hartford, Al / Jan 1960 / JCH

Hartford & Slocumb #1

builder:American Locomotive Company
model:S1 (E-1530)
type:B-B switcher
built:Jan 1942, Alco #69681
series:535 produced 1940-50
engine:Alco 539 (6 cyls. 660 hp)
notes:
ex Federal Barge Line #1

Hartford, Al / Jan 1960 / JCH

Dothan, Al / Jun 1971 / collection

Hartford & Slocumb #257

Alco RS-1 (1949) / Dothan, Al / Jun 1971 / collection

Hartford & Slocumb #257

builder:American Locomotive Company
model:RS-1
type:B-B road switcher
built:Oct 1949, Alco #77175
series:353 produced 1941-60
engine:Alco 539, 6 cyls. 1000 hp
notes:
blt Chicago & Western Indiana #257
to Precision National
to Hartford & Slocumb #257, 1971

collection

Hartford & Slocumb #1051

EMD NW2 (1947) / Dothan, Al / Apr 1987 / collection

Hartford & Slocumb #1051

builder:Electro Motive Division
model:NW2
type:B-B switcher
built:1947
series:1119 produced 1939-49
engine:567A (12 cyls. 1000 hp)
notes:
ex Southern Rwy #2260, later #1051
ex Birmingham Rail & Loco Co #1051
later Gulf & Ohio Railways #1051

Rolling Stock

Hartford & Slocumb "Jim Crow" combine

Hartford, Al / Jan 1960 / JCH

Hartford, Al / 1990s / RWH

Hartford & Slocumb #5294

ex NOPB boxcar / Dothan, Al / 1990s / RWH

Locations

Hartford & Slocumb offices

Hartford, Al / Jan 1960 / JCH

Lagniappe

Hartford, Al / Jan 1960 / JCH

Hartford, Al / Jan 1960 / JCH

I drove up to Hartford from Pensacola, Florida in 1960 to see the Hartford & Slocumb's Alco switcher and the mixed train service. My wife was pregnant with our first child, and she was a real trooper for making that trip with me. I have always been intrigued by the road's "Jim Crow" divided combine. In 1960 I noted that smoke deflectors had been installed around all of the windows. When Ralph and I photographed the car again in the early 1990s, the car was in bad shape and the deflectors -- as well as lot of other features! -- had been removed.

Links / Sources

Don's Rail Photos - Alabama shortlines
Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide - Fifth Edition (Kalmbach, 1996) 146
Charles W. McDonald, Diesel Locomotive Rosters (Kalmbach, 1992) 82