Southern No. 111, the fiddle tune and the train

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I am writing a tune history for a fiddle tune recorded in the laste 1920s entitled Southern No. 111. I have interviewed the son of the fiddler who recorded the piece, who said his father knew the engineer on this line. When did the Southern Railway ascribe numbers to their routes? It seems the 111 route existed before the number. Does anyone know any history or lore regarding the 111? Anyone know the name of an engineer or train that ran the 111? It is correct that the Southern No. 111 is a route, rather than a named locomotive, and in 1928 would have been run by more than one engine? The tune was later recorded by Mainer's Mountaineers and Curly Fox. I don't have those two versions. Is this tune well known to Southern Railway fans? It's a wonderful piece.

-- Robert J. Fulcher (bobby.fulcher@state.tn.us), April 25, 2003

Answers

Bobby,

The Southern didn't number their lines. As early as 1912(reference Southern Railway Station Directory of July 1, 1912), and probably from the beginning, all lines east of Morristown, TN and Atlanta, GA had letter prefixes, and all lines west of Morristown and south and west of Atlanta had letter affixes. Any location would have a prefix or affix with the mile post location of that line. I grew up on the so called "NC LINE" which had H as prefix and my home station of Graham, NC was H23.1. Incidentially, Trains 111 and 112 ran on that line until mid-50s. The song you are talking about could have been for another line. Trains 111 and 112 on the H-line were night trains, mostly mail and express, between Greensboro and Goldsboro. I know of nothing significant of those trains 111 and 112.

-- j. marvin black (sr6100diesel@bigfoot.com), April 29, 2003.


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