Hello, I am researching the Brevard & Hendersonville Railway which later became the Transylvania County Railroad. The Southern Ry. later took control and operated the single tracked line from Hendersonville NC to Lake Toxaway, NC. I am looking for the operation characteristics of the line and detailed history. The line originally took bigshots in their private cars to the resort in Lake Toxaway. After the 1916 distruction of the manmade dam, the resort folded. Lumbering then became the chief commodity until the service ended. I need dates as additional infomation is very sketchy. Little seems to be recorded. Thanks, Arthur

-- Arthur Raynolds (ARdiver@citcom.net), October 06, 1999

Answers

There is a short (9 pages) section on the Transylvania RR in " A history of railroading in western North Carolina" by Cary Franklin Poole (The Overmountain Press, Johnson City Tenn [1995])

-- G Stahlberg (sberg@brevard.edu), November 14, 2000.

Arthur,

According to Richard Prince's "Southern Railway System":

"Transylvania RR ran from Hendersonville to Lake Toxaway, N.C., 42 miles. Prior to 1899 this railroad was known as the HENDERSONVILLE & BREVARD RAILROAD, TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE CO., having been chartered in 1891. That company opened a 22-mile railroad from Hendersonville to Brevard in 1895 and owned two locomotives in 1898. The TRANSYLVANIA RR completed an additional 11 miles to Lake Toxaway in 1903 and was acquired by the Southern Ry which absorbed it in 1906."

I'll keep my eyes open for any other info.

Good luck,

Jerry Dowling

-- Jerry Dowling (jdowlng@lcc.net), October 09, 1999.