Draft:Missouri Southern Railroad

Missouri Southern Railroad mainline

The Missouri Southern Railroad, commonly abbreviated as MS was one of the first major lumber railroads in the Ozarks. The MS was a Class III Railroad that connected a dozen small towns in the Missouri counties of Wayne, Reynolds, Shannon and Dent. In 1941, the railroad operated 53 miles (85 km) of mainline track and 29 more miles (47 km) of spurs.

In May 1941 the MS was shut down by the Interstate Commerce Commission due to recognition by the companies vice president that poor low economic output had become a major issue for quite awhile. The last train ran in late May as part of a contract the MS had with the school district in Reynolds County, and the line was torn up in the coming months to aid the war effort.

History

Toward the end of the 19th century a massive boost to economy suddenly hit the Ozark Regions of Missouri and Arkansas: lumber. Many logging and mining industries flocked to the Current River valley in Southeast Missouri in search of huge income, and they were not left wanting. Many companies suddenly dotted the banks of the creeks and rivers in the region and it would not take long until a group of businessmen stretching from Missouri to Pennsylvania noticed.

1884-1888

On January 18th, 1884 two men from Oil City, Pennsylvania named W. S. McMullan and D. Goetel met with W. H. Mowris, C. McLae, and A. Martindale of Ironton, Missouri in the small town of Colemanville in order to discuss the construction of a new narrow gauge railroad that would connect the interior of Reynolds County with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad at Leeper.

The group planned to have the railroad branch off of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, & Southern Railroad at Mill Spring, head west into Carter County, and then north into Reynolds to the city of Barnesville. Overall the line would reach 30 miles from Mill Spring to Barnesville, penetrating the thick woodlands of the Ozarks. Each incorporator gave one thousand dollars per share, with 79 shares in total. Accounting for inflation, the railroad cost roughly 2.5 million dollars to build completely in the modern day.

The group acquired the existing narrow gauge line at the Clarkson Sawmill which was located just between Mill Spring and Leeper, planning on using its trackage to begin the line to Barnesville. By the time 1885 rolled around the rails had been laid to Keystone, a small town which was roughly ten miles to the west of Leeper. Six months later the line had grown to Penn, reaching almost 15 miles long. In 1887 the incorporators made a spur that reached the Carter County line, the railroad officially reaching the west border of Reynolds County. It would take almost a decade before it reached Barnesville despite this progress, which had been renamed to Ellington by the time the depot was built.

Missouri Southern 2-4-0 Murrell Springs

1889-1907

Frank D. Stout in the Stout Island Manor

The railroad went under a major revision in 1907 when the businessman Frank D. Stout took control of the MoSou. This consisted of regauging the entire line to standard gauge, reconstructing the wooden trestles to steel bridges, modernizing the stations and buying more modern locomotives from Alco-Rogers Locomotive Works.

In 1933 the MoSou became one of the first railroads to completely dieselize, taking all the steam locomotives out of service in favor of their Plymouth 44-ton Hydro-diesel locomotive for freight service and the Brill motorcar that they bought in 1924 for passenger service. This choice would come back to haunt them however, as they had to bring many of their money making spurs out of service as the steam locomotives managed them better than the Plymouth and motorcar.

When World War II erupted in Europe, the United States demanded that the railroads ship more goods so that the government could aid the allies. This was no different for the MoSou, despite its small size. The MoSou had been in severe debt for nearly a decade now, and the Interstate Commerce Commission noticed that. In 1940 the ICC sent an ultimatum to the MoSou which stated that if the line could not make a reasonable profit in the coming months, they would be forced to shut down.

For the first time in five years, the MoSou broke $10,000 in earnings, however it came with a price. The railroad had been horribly maintained for nearly a year since the ultimatum, causing several derailments up and down the line. They had also shut down several of their spurs that were not making money, which actually worked for a short time. The ICC came back in May 1941 and noticed the horrible trackage, immediately shutting down the MoSou for good. The last train ran on May 20, 1941, consisting of the Plymouth 44 tonner and a single empty boxcar.

On December 7, 1941, war broke out between the United States and the Empire of Japan. This in turn sped up the process of tearing up the line, leaving nothing but the iron spikes used to hold the railroad together. All the track was gone by the 1950s according to radar images from 1955, replaced by several hiking trails and new roads. Until the 1970s parts of the right of way were labeled on maps as "Old Railroad Grade", especially a section south of Chitwood.

Passenger service

In the MoSou's early years passenger service was an oddity, but once a week an unnamed passenger service ran between Leeper and Ellington (previously named Barnesville). This train usually consisted of a narrow gauge 2-6-0 nicknamed Ellington followed by a baggage car and two regular passenger cars. This service ran between 1896 and 1907, up until the modernization to standard gauge by Frank D. Stout. What happened to the Ellington and its passenger cars are unknown, but they were probably either sold or scrapped by the MoSou.

When Stout took over in 1907 and regauged the line, the MoSou aquired a brand new 4-4-0 from the Alco Rogers Locomotive Works to pull a daily passenger train from Leeper to Ellington (extended to Bunker in the 1910s). This locomotive was named Ernest Prator after the Master Mechanic of the railroad. This passenger train was called the Daily due to how often it ran. It stopped at every station along the line until 1923 when the Ernest Prator was destroyed during a shop fire in Ellington. No one was hurt, however the locomotive was in a terrible shape. None of the 2-6-0s that the MoSou owned were fit for passenger service, so this passenger train service came to an end.

Stout died in 1923 and was replaced by Herman Radtke. Immediately when Radtke took control he approved the purchase of a new Brill motorcar, which arrived on MoSou rails in 1924. The motorcar was nicknamed the Bull Moose by the people of Reynolds County due to the low bellowing horn it had, and it quickly became a favorite amongst the railroad workers. The Bull Moose had the best service record of any of the MoSou passenger trains, serving the route between Leeper and Bunker proudly as a usual passenger train and a bus for school houses along the line. In 1941 when the MoSou was shut down the Bull Moose was sold to the National Railroad of Mexico, where it served until 1961. However, after 1961 all records fall off about the Bull Moose. Nothing says it was scrapped and nothing says it was sold, so it is still on the table that it could be around.

Attempts to preserve rolling stock

After the Ernest Prastor burned in 1923 the MoSou moved her to Leeper for storage. She remained there until 1941 due to funding from Reynolds County to preserve her as the first standard gauge steam locomotive owned by the railroad, but in the end it wasen't enough and she was scrapped by the ICC sometime in the 1940s, right where she stood.

Preserved rolling stock

Missouri Southern Boxcar, 2024

Only one piece of rolling stock is confirmed to still exist from the MoSou. In 1941 a boxcar was left where the town of Fruit City was for an unknown reason. It sat there for 15 years or so until the family across the street bought it and used it as their home until the father built a farmhouse on their land. They then used it as a shed, and still do as of 2024.