117 Years Ago, Today!!

The locomotive you see on the front of this post card was manufactured by General Electric. It is one of their 70-Tonner models.

This locomotive was previously owned by the South Carolina line, the Lancaster & Chester Railroad, and operated for them as #62 before it became #104 for the Laurinburg and Southern Railroad (reporting mark LRS). This favourite website of mine tells us some of the history of the LRS: https://www.american-rails.com/laurinburg.html This railroad is a venerable short line established on March 4, 1909, to serve the southeastern region of North Carolina, particularly Laurinburg and the surrounding areas. Construction on the system commenced quickly and was in service from Johns to East Laurinburg by July 2nd that year. Within a year, the line extended to Wagram, marking a period of rapid growth. The expansion continued with the strategic acquisition of a section from Wagram to Raeford from the Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad on November 12, 1921. Beyond its primary 28-mile stretch from Laurinburg to Raeford, LRS broadened its operations by acquiring several other shortline railroads across North Carolina and even extending into Virginia. In 1994 the L&S had streamlined its portfolio, retaining only its namesake line and two others: the Nash County Railroad and the Yadkin Valley Railroad. That is the year in which the Gulf & Ohio Railways acquired the Laurinburg & Southern holding company. This website is the website of the current owners of the LRS: https://gulfandohio.com/laurinburg-and-southern Here is what they have to say about themselves: Today, the Laurinburg and Southern Railroad (LRS) operates on 27 track miles in Scotland County, North Carolina. It is served by CSX, located along I-74, and just 100 miles to the Port of Wilmington. There are 40 miles to I-95. The railroad has Industrial and Transload Sites Available as well as Railcar Storage and Repair Available. The Track Capacity is 286K. And in 2022 and 2023 the railroad was the ASLRRA Jake Award Winner. The Laurinburg & Southern Railroad hauls approximately 2,500 carloads annually including soda ash, glass, fertilizer, and feed ingredients. Commodities frequently handled are raw materials for glass production, finished glass products, plastics, agricultural products and petroleum products.

While the publisher of this post card is ubiquitous in my collection (204 of them), I can find nothing about them in the outside world.