Rail Service Hyde Pulp Mill

Originally, service to the mill was provided by the McCabe Lumber Co. railroad, a three-foot narrow gauge line owned by John McCabe of the Coon Gap Sawmill fame. Later, with the increase of incoming pulpwood and resulting outgoing pulp, a standard gauge line was also run to the mill. Since it was built to narrow gauge clearances, some difficulty exists with standard gauge equipment. In the early days, narrow gauge pulpwood cars arrived on the single track, and the pulpwood was dumped by hand behind the mill. Here it was debarked, and fed into the steam-powered chipper. A simple conveyor carried the chips into the main building and the awaiting digestor. Finished pulp slabs were loaded into narrow gauge box cars at the large south-side freight door. Usually two loads of pulpwood arrived per day and a box car load of pulp left every Monday morning. A box car load of bagged chemicals would arrive every week or so. Naturally, a flat car or gondola with new equipment or large replacement parts would arrive when needed. As the operation grew, so did the need for more rail service. The addition of the standard gauge track allowed larger cars to service the mill, and faster deliveries. However, the close clearances prevented the standard gauge box cars from coming directly to the loading door. And the increased size of these cars meant that they had to stay on the property longer to be filled. This bothered Mr. Hyde, so additional pulp storage was added in a second building. This allowed the accumulation of a box car load of outgoing pulp before ordering the car to arrive. And every couple of weeks a triple-dome tank car would arrive to carry off the accumulated turpentine. Since dual gauge track is used at the Hyde Pulp Mill, it is common to see both standard and narrow gauge equipment on a daily basis.

The traffic to the mill consists of:

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Last Changed on: July 10, 2012
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