(rshsdepot) The Atlantic and Southern, the "unique railroad"

["Paul Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

The Cedar Falls Record, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Thursday, September 9, 1915
END OF RAILROAD BUILT BY FARMERS

Iowa Farmers' Railroad to Be Sold For Junk After Speculator Career of Less Than Five Years.
IT WAS A UNIQUE RAILROAD

Striking Section Men and Trainmen Once Took Possession of the Line for a Time.

   Atlantic, Ia..--The last chapter in the spectacular history of the Atlantic Southern railroad, built by Iowa farmers to create competitition and a reduction in freight and passenger rates, is about to be written. The line will be sold for junk. The rails and ties will probably be taken up and transferred to Arkansas for use on a small railroad in that state. The stations will be sold to anyone who will buy them and the right of way will revert to the farmers along the route, who originally donated most of it to the railroad.
   Not a wheel has been turned on any portion of the road since Jan. 1. Two years ago, after passing thru a receivership, the line was sold at auction and was purchased by the firm which had furnished the cross ties, the bid being the amount still due on it. This firm operated the road for 18 months, but lost money every month and closed down entirely with the opening of this year.
   The Atlantic & Southern was unique among railroads. It is 35 miles long and was completed Jan. 1, 1911, after a spectacular building race for a prize of $50,000, which was, to be paid conditional upon the completion of the road upon that date. During the last month of constructions, the work was carried on day and night, electric lights being strung along the line. The job was completed with only a few hours to spare, and the first train to pass from end to end arrived at the terminal within less than an hour of the last moment possible for it to do so and yet win the prize.
   The little road was built in large part by farmers. Not only did they finance the deal, but they performed most of the work, Every spare hour a farmer had, he drove over to the line and put his horses aand himself to work. Sometimes he was paid in actual cash, but for the most part the farmer workers were paid in stock in the road.
   At one time there was a strike on the road and the section men and five train men quit work because they had not been paid off. They barricaded the line and for a month not a train was operated in either direction. Finally the strikers took possession, ran the trains, took the money and paid themselves off, and finally surrended the property to the owners.
   Leslie M. Shaw, formerly secretary of the treasury, once tried to buy the property at a receiver's sale. Mr. Shaw deposited $40,000 when the line was knocked down to him at auction, and his deposit was confiscated. He is still fighting in the courts to get his money back.

http://www.collegebasketballarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=87092576_clean&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=18&currentPage=0
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1592
********************************

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org