YELLOW RIVER RAILROAD

The Yellow River Railroad was a short-line logging railroad in the Florida Panhandle.

Route

The line ran: 26 miles (42 km) between Crestview, Florida and Florala, Alabama via Auburn, Campton, and Laurel Hill. It crossed the Yellow River - hence the name - in north Okaloosa County. The tracks later belonged to CSX.

Purpose

Sawmill operator W. B. Wright opened it in 1894 to haul longleaf yellow pine timber to market. One history notes it helped transport yellow pine to Pensacola, the largest plank/board producer along the gulf and east coast at the time.

Operations

Early on it was a mixed train - freight cars plus a combination baggage-mail-express-passenger coach, pulled by a small wood-burning locomotive called Old No. 2, carrying mail to and from Florala twice a week. Railroad collectibles guides list its corporate life as 1887 to 1906 - 19 years of operation, operating routes across Alabama and Florida.

Disposition

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) provided freight cars for the line and purchased the operation in 1906, renaming it the Yellow River Branch. Without significant shippers to sustain it, it was eventually used for freight car storage in the early 1980s and was abandoned in May 1985, with 25.3 miles of track removed.

In Summary

It's a classic example of the post-Civil War timber boom railroads - hundreds of small lines that exploded across the U.S. when rail travel was still a luxury and steam was king.