St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway was a historic railroad that operated in Missouri, and Arkansas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway
Overview
LocaleMissouri and Arkansas, United States
Dates of operation1874–1917
SuccessorMissouri Pacific Railroad
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
An 1898 ad for the Pacific Coast Limited, which the railway operated jointly with the Chicago and Alton Railroad, Texas and Pacific Railway, and Southern Pacific Railroad.

It ran from St. Louis, Missouri, to Texarkana, Arkansas, as well as to southeast Missouri. The line was initially established to deliver iron ore from Iron Mountain, Missouri to St. Louis. The company was frequently referred to as the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern (StLIM&S) or shortened to simply the Iron Mountain Railway.

Saint Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Locomotive #635, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1889. It is currently on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation

The railroad was robbed twice, once by the James-Younger Gang on January 31, 1874, at Gad's Hill, Missouri, and once by the "One-Time Train Robbery Gang".[1] on November 3, 1893,[2] at Olyphant, Arkansas.

In 1883 the StLIM&S was acquired by Jay Gould, becoming part of a 9,547-mile (15,364 km) system. On May 12, 1917, it was formally merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which in turn was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1982.

Folklore

The railroad is famous for giving its name to the Iron Mountain Baby, and the railroad is reported to have paid for the child's education.

Heritage railroad

The name has been resurrected by a modern short line railroad based in Jackson, Missouri. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway operates a heritage railroad in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri of about 5 miles southwards.

References
  1. This gang included seven members, including George Washington Padgett, who had been involved with another robbery previously while in the Dalton gang. When captured with three other members, he gave the name of Charles Arnett, who was his cousin. Charles Arnett is the great grandfather of my wife. The family still possesses George Padgett's pistol.
  2. "LEGACY OF A ROBBERY ON THE IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD", by Joe Wreford Hipp. Published 1996 by Renegade Press,Little Rock, Arkansas
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