#hmcr

[freebrickproductions]

Huntsville & Madison County Railroad, Huntsville, AL

9/30/19

Part 2/2

[freebrickproductions]

Alabama’s Last Independent Shortline

Once upon a time, across much of the US, including here in Alabama, most shortline railroads were independently owned and operated. However, as the years wore on, some shortline conglomerates formed and started growing and expanding, taking over various shortlines (and sometimes other shortline conglomerates, at least when they weren’t acquiring lines from the Class Is). Over the years, the independently owned shortlines fell one by one, causing the loss of many unique little operations and paint schemes, with many of them getting repainted into the corporate scheme of their new parent company, at least when they didn’t die off due to a loss of traffic. Alabama was especially hit by this, as most of the shortlines in the state fell under the ownership of either WATCO or the G&W. 

 However, against all odds, two shortlines in the northern part of the state managed to hang on without getting bought out: the Sequatchie Valley Railroad (SQVR) and the Huntsville & Madison County Railroad (HMCR).  Both railroads did pretty well, and ran some nice operations, but it wasn’t to last. In early 2019, much to many people’s surprise, the Surface Transportation Board released an approval for Iron Horse Industries (a smaller shortline conglomerate) to take over the SQVR (and its sister railroad, the Walking Horse & Eastern (WHOE)). As it turns out, the (now former) owner of both the SQVR and WHOE decided that it was time to retire after being in the railroading industry for six decades, putting both railroads up for sale last year. Unfortunately, this leaves Alabama with one operating shortline that’s still independently owned: the Huntsville & Madison County Railroad. 

Fortunately, while I was at work on February 28th, 2019, I heard the HMCR running towards the end of my shift. Once I got off, I swung by Rocket and saw that they were switching, before running home, grabbing my camera, and then chasing them well into the evening hours, with them hauling a 13-car train north across their line.

 Had I not been at work earlier in the day (I had just gotten off work, and heard what sounded like the HMCR, so I swung by Rocket to see what was up), I probably would’ve chased the 24-car southbound they ran. However, this chase north was still pretty nice, even if not all of my shots were the best due to me being in a rush to get them set-up a couple of times. HMCR 9554 and HMCR 3986 are still getting plenty of use as well. However, they’re currently hanging around down at Rocket and are typically used for switching duties, due to the fact that the HMCR is storing so many cars at the moment, they can’t run the engines around the trains when switching! (As a side note, I would’ve also recorded this as well, had I not been at work earlier in the day.) 

[freebrickproductions]

Huntsville & Madison County Railroad, Huntsville, AL

9/30/19

Part 1/2

[freebrickproductions]

Huntsville & Madison County Railroad, Huntsville, AL

9-27-19

[vaultermagazine]

@niki_joannidu ・ An indescribable experience🌟🖤 - - - #HMCR #jsematlet #nike #sskvitkovice #dreamfulfilled #polevault #athletic #350 #blondegirl #ostrava #firstplace #lovethis #indoorseason #stoneconcentricity #bigexperience #vaultermagazine - - - Děkuju za spolupráci s 📸 Jiřím Kottasem a @tomas.bresky - - - A děkuju všem za podporu💓 https://www.instagram.com/p/ByiLdRvnkou/?igshid=619whyc9vl45

[huntsvillerailfan]

HMCR 3986 - Huntsville, AL - 8-25-16 by freebrickproductions Via Flickr: The HMCR's B23-7 idles with the U23B, HMCR 9554, while the crew disconnects the cars so that they can do some switching in the yard before going back to bring the cars into the yard.

[huntsvillerailfan]

HMCR 3986 - Huntsville, AL - 8-25-16 by freebrickproductions Via Flickr: The HMCR's B23-7 idles with the U23B, HMCR 9554, while the crew disconnects the cars so that they can do some switching in the yard before going back to bring the cars into the yard.

[huntsvillerailfan]

HMCR 9554 by freebrickproductions Via Flickr: Three of the HMCR's four engines sit on the line just south of Clinton Avenue, with one of their new B39-8s, HMCR 8527, sandwiched between their B23-7 and their U23B.