Re: Two Railroad Rosters

Posted by John Greenly on
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Two-Railroad-Rosters-tp14478p14506.html

Jim,

The Kokomo depot date is an interesting question.  The only date I have found is in the book "Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads" by Bob Schoppe and Sandra Mather.  They say the depot was built in the town center spur location in 1895 (p. 97), and moved up to the main line around 1915. This is then consistent with its absence from the 1893 document, but  what was there before 1895 to service the traffic to Kokomo?

Mac Poor (p.447 memorial edition) states that

"Kokomo's first depot was built just above the old Rio Grande crossover near the wye formed by the Wilfley mill branch.  Sometime later, the depot was located about three-quarters of a mile downgrade (north) near the junction of a short spur that ran from the main line, across Tenmile Creek to a point near the center of the business district."

I've not seen this first location for the depot mentioned anywhere else, and he makes no mention of the town center location at all.  

And then, Schoppe and Mather write (their p.93):

"The C&S built several spurs in Kokomo. One, built in 1895, led to Wilfley's mill; another, built in 1908, led to Breene's mill.  Workers constructed a wye for turning engines as part of the Wilfley spur."

If this is correct, then Poor's description of the first depot location couldn't in any case have been true until 1895 when the wye was constructed.

John

And thank you Rick, for posting these documents!!