The photo below is of St Francois County Railroad #6, a diesel switcher bought in late 1946 or early 1947. We know from a newspaper article that this photo was a part of that it was a center cab with a pair of 150hp diesel engines, and that it cost the railroad $30,000. What we don’t know, and cannot seem to figure out, is its builder and model number. The “we” I refer to includes the two most knowledgeable historians of this tiny Missouri railroad.
Any help in identifying this critter would be greatly appreciated.
Based on the hood shape, I’m pretty certain that it’s not a GE. It’s a 44 ton model, but Porter, Whitcomb and Davenport all made similar looking models at about the same time, which makes it hard. It would be nice to have a closer look at the hoods and trucks.
Bad enough that he found a 10 mile interurban in SE Missouri (Farmington) that supposedly only survived 1904-1957 (Dieselized in 1947 and was freight only by then - the OH electric had failed) which would make that loco one of the early first Porters surplus-ed after WW2 (Kinda looks like Navy#2 of 1940 in DSG…the steps, the grille, lightly sloping hoods and the cab)
That picture is quite a find. (somebody got the early X2200S issues on diesel mice?)
Well I did some research on 44 tonners and am pretty sure this is a Davenport unit. The front grille and hood appear to be very similar to other pictures of Davenports that I found online. The cab looks somewhat similar as well.
The company was founded in 1901. The first trip was on July 24, 1904.
They had purchased a locomotive from E F Wickham Coal & Coke Co in St Louis in 1907.
The initial route was from Farmington to Delasus and a connectiuon with the Iron Mountain RR. Then a branch to the Mississippi River, then a line to Bonne Terre RR at Flat River, then to the Illinois Southern at Esshen. MO.
The depot, seen in the photo was at 125 North Washinton St in Farmington.
It was originally the St. Francois Electric Railroad Company.
In the late 1920’s they hauled 75,000 tons of freight per year.
See Survey Report, 29-02 #17555-575 for Farmington, MO.
Railroad History had a short article in issue 122 on page 37.
All above from Wikipedia and the Farmington Survey.
The area roughly described in your post seems to pretty much overlay, and is intertwined within the SEMO area, often referred to as “The Lead Belt”. It is an interesting history, and the railroads of that area were used to transport the raw, and refined products of the lead belt to various smelters in the area. The following linked site @ https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Mississippi%20River%20and%20Bonne%20Terre%20Railway
Delassus seems to have been three miles south of Farmington.
Chrck Don Ross Collection for photos of Car#50, aMcGuire-Cummings unit bought secondhand. It seemsto be more freight than passenger, but typical interurban of the time. It is at the Farmington depot. It has a railroad roof.
Also see Don Ross Collection for Car #54 at Farmington. It is a combination car with a freight door midway and six window passenger section to the rear. It has an arch roof and seems to be the principal car used. Photo from Feruary 7, 1938 by Bob Hanft.
