(This post was in the Cattle Car, but was told to move the post here) Classic Statistics Founded: 1977 Miles: 155 States Operated in: Virginia, North Carolina, Trackage Rights With NS to South Carolina Type: Freight President: Leroy Cornwell History The 1973 - 1975 recession took a large toll on railroads. Some railroads were cutting corners to earn as much money as they could. One of which was the Southern Railroad, abandoning the Eden Branch line for extra money. They also abandoned some track alongside the Tar River. The Eden Branch sat derelict until 1977 when a man known as Leroy Cornwell came along, and bought the line for $500,000. That's equivalent to over $1,300,000 today. Cornwell was well known for his multiple retirement homes in Virginia and North Carolina, as well with one in West Virginia. The most notable one was the Danville home. Cornwell made over eight million dollars, and was thinking of expanding the homes until an auction for the now abandoned Eden Branch, and all of it's rolling stock and locomotives on it. Cornwell, of course, won the auction, and now had the entire branch line to himself. He planned on refurbishing the line by 1982, but due to personal and financial problems, this plan never came to fruition. However due to these setbacks he formed the rail line known as the Stuart & Danville Railroad. At the time the railroad only had one engine, a ragged Baldwin DS-4-4-1000 diesel engine, which they nicknamed Flotsam, for it's multiple problems. That was, until, a clear, May evening where an employee got lost finding his way back to his car to go home, and rather found a shed for locomotives. He opened the door and was amazed at what he saw. A Southern Railway 2-8-0 and another DS-4-4-1000, which came unmarked. Both engines were dusty from years of not being noticed, and the employee told Leroy about the news. Leroy demanded that the two locomotives be restored to operating conditions, no matter the cost. Three years later in 1987, the diesel was restored. Like the Flotsam, the diesel was also given a nickname: Utilitarian. In 1991, the steam engine was also fixed. Tatty, was its name, and she became the first steam engine to run revenue freight in North Carolina since 1975. Everything was going great. However, Mother Nature would disagree, as eight years later, something bad would happen. (I hope you guys are enjoying this so far! I am open to criticism and your fictional railroads if you have any too!)
I actually do have a backstory for each of the two layouts I have.... but only one of those has a fictional railroad running on it. When these layouts went to train shows, I had the back stories posted by the layouts so visitors could amuse themselves finding the places mentioned. I should dig out the files.
