Bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern

Using the the former Rebel branch, Mr. Tatum would be able to gain access to a new logging operation near Denco, Mississippi and transport lumber from Bonhomie, where he owned a sawmill, to the GM&N junction at Beaumont and connections eastward. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the sale in January 1925, and the Bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern Railway went into operation less than a month later. The entire capital stock of $335,000 was sold to the Tatum family, and all equipment for the railroad was leased from the Tatum Lumber Company — including five locomotives, three of which were new Baldwin acquisitions.

The modest B&HS showed a profit for several years, but eventually slipped into financial deficit as its income from lumber traffic declined. Tatum's logging operation near Denco ended when the GM&O abandoned its Blodgett Branch, a dummy line from Denco to Piave, Mississippi. In 1953, the Tatum family sold the then unprofitable B&HS to the nearby Fernwood, Columbia, & Gulf Railway — also owned my Mississippi interests. Stabilized, the Bonhomie would become well known in the late 1950's and early '60's for continuing to operate the line with Baldwin steam locomotives 250 and 300. These two movers continued to operate until October 1961, when upon the death of the road's longtime Master Mechanic the kettles were replaced with a pair of used SW1 switchers. The little B&HS, along with sister line FC&G, was included in the Illinois Central Gulf merger in 1972. The former B&HS trackage survives today as part of ICG-successor Canadian National's route from Jackson to Mobile.