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Forest Rails Georgia-Pacific’s Railroads by Russell Tedder
Forest Rails Georgia-Pacifics Railroads by Russell Tedder
Hard Cover with dust jacket
464 pages
Copyright 2016
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments6
1 ForestRails, An Introduction 8
2 Logging the Coast Range14
C.D. Johnson Lumber Corporation 14
Coos Bay Lumber Company42
Hammond Lumber Company70
3 Early West Coast Short Lines 90
Feather River Railway 90
Oregon, Pacific & Eastern 130
4 Logging the Appalachians 150
W.M. Ritter Lumber Company 150
Meadow River Lumber Company 164
5 Crossett-Watzek-Gates178
Eagle Lumber Company 181
Gates Lumber Company 182
Jackson Lumber Company 183
Grant Lumber Company 184
Fordyce & Princeton 186
Ashley, Drew & Northern 198
Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi 222
Crossett Western Company240
6 Southern Short Lines 244
Brimstone Railroad 244
Carolina Western 258
Swamp Logging in the Carolinas 266
7 California Short Lines270
California Western 270
Amador Central 300
8 Mississippi branch Lines 322
The Valley Line 323
The Columbia Route 328
The Soso Line 330
9 Great Northern-Nekoosa 332
Valdosta Southern 332
Marinette, Tomahawk & Western 342
Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad 360
Old Augusta 372
10 Uncommon Carriers 376
Columbia & Silver Creek 376
Woodland, Maine, Rail Operations 380
Port Edwards-Nekoosa Intermill 382
Blue Rapids Railway 390
11 The Invisible Railroads392
Mill and Plant Switchers 392
Rail Car Fleets 398
12 Survivors 408
Moscow, Camden & San Augustine 410
13 Locomotive Rosters 418
Dedication464
DUST JACKET INTRODUCTION:
ForestRails is a story of railroads and the role they played in the growth of Georgia-Pacific, a major forest products company. From the early beginnings, railroads have been absolutely essential in the delivery of raw materials and shipment of finished products of the forests. Such was the case with Georgia-Pacific's railroads. Just as man does not live on bread alone, railroads could not survive without freight to haul. Thus it is necessary for this story to also tell the parallel stories of G-P's acquisitions that included the railroads.
Georgia-Pacific aptly described itself as the growth company over the years. Beginning in 1927 as a small lumber dealer, the company grew in the last half of the 20th century to become one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of forest products. Georgia-Pacific's phenomenal growth was mainly through acquisitions of existing companies which included extensive railroad logging and shortline railroad operations.
By 1900 lumbermen had recognized the efficiency of a steel wheel on a steel rail and the number of logging railroads grew rapidly. The coming of the railroads freed lumbermen from being tied to the river banks and dependency on weather conditions. Railroad logging could be operated year round with little or no interruptions from the weather. Railroads also made large areas of timber accessible that could not have been logged before.
G-P's acquisitions have included 16 common-carrier shortline railroads and five major private logging operations. Each short line was a separate subsidiary company of Georgia-Pacific. Although governed by boards of directors, the short lines were separately operated at arms-length due to government regulations.
The author does not purport to analyze the financial and economic aspects of the Georgia-Pacific railroads. Although the railroads were profitable, it would be impossible to quantify the precise economic benefit of the railroads to G-P from financial statements alone. Instead, the operational characteristics of the railroads and, more importantly, their vital support of the logistics processes of the company's mills, plants, and distribution systems are explored in depth.
To be included in this story, a railroad must have been owned or operated by G-P at some time during its existence. The history of each railroad is then told from its beginning. Certain unique and creative arrangements for preserving rail service at mills on non-company railroads are also discussed.
This story is an important part of American business history.
A native of Perry, Florida, Russell Tedder graduated from high school at 16. He laid aside college plans to accept a job offer as a station clerk at the joint freight and passenger station of the Live Oak, Perry & Gulf Railroad and the South Georgia Railway at Perry. This job led to a lifelong career in shortline railroading.
At 19, Russell was promoted to station agent. One year later train dispatching was added to his duties. Southern Railway bought the two lumber roads in 1954 when the sawmills were replaced by a large new pulp mill on the
LOP&G. In 1957 he joined the U.S. Army for three years. He first served with the 714th Railroad Operating Battalion at Fort Eustis, Virginia. In 1958 he was reassigned as Chief of the Army's Rail Transportation Office (RTO) in Bremen, Germany. After 25 months in Germany he was discharged and returned to his former job at Perry.
With night classes and a leave of absence, Russell earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Florida State University in 1968. This led to a job offer as vice president and general manager of the Sabine River & Northern Railroad at Orange, Texas, a new short line that served a new papermill. In 1976 he became president of Georgia-Pacific's Ashley, Drew & Northern and Fordyce & Princeton railroads at Crossett, Arkansas. His leadership led to the formation in the 1980s of three new G-P short lines from abandoned Class 1 branch lines and purchase of one struggling short line to preserve rail service to G-P plants. By 1991 the number of operating G-P short lines had increased to nine. That year, besides being president of the nine short lines, G-P appointed Russell as Director of Corporate Rail Service with oversight over all company owned railroad operations. This included a fleet of 7,500 freight cars.
Russell served on the board of directors, as regional vice president, and five years as chairman of the board and executive committee of the American Shortline Railroad Association. He also served several years on the operating-maintenance committee.
Following retirement from the Georgia-Pacific railroads in 1997, Russell operated a rail consulting company with major Fortune 500 forest products companies as clients until 2005. The North Florida Community College presented Russell with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. He lives in Sherwood, Arkansas, with his wife, Carolyn, near their daughter, Jennifer Tedder Booth (Steven) and grandchildren, Harrison Tedder Booth, 16, and Elizabeth Hale Booth, 13, of Little Rock.
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