This photo come courtesy of a colleague, E. A. Beaird, whos grandfather appears in the cab window of BLAS #2. Gene said the picture was taken in 1925. He told me that his grandfather was illiterate, but was known for his ability to cipher in his head the tonnage of the timber that he brought to the mill in Blythville. He left railroading because he couldnt pass the written rules examnation after the BLAS was taken over by the StLSW. The #2 was a Porter saddle tank of unknown age and origin. Strapacs book on the SSW shows the right side of the engine taken at an earlier date. It sported a diamond cap on the stack, and it carried a crosshead water pump. BLAS was a common carrier and listed in the the Offical RR Guide. The BLAS had a colorful roster of mixed ancestry which included a MKT Mogul. Owned by a major timber concern, Chicago Mill & Lumber Company,the BL&AS RR was able to “influence” the Frisco and the JLC&E that it would be in their best interest to grant trackage rights. I can only guess what the CM&LC held over the head of the railroad officials, but what ever their methodology was, it worked, and in 1914 the BLAS began operating between Leachville and Blytheville and Leachville and Arbyrd over Frisco/JLC&E rails. From what I can determine, by the mid-20’s much of the first growth timber had been cut, and the BLAS started to carry agricultural products, which put it in direct competition with the Frisco. Already beginning to feel the pinch of competing highway traffic, during 1927 the Frisco evicted the BLAS. I hoped that there might be more information about this in the digital collection of The Frisco Man magazines, but I could not find any. Left out in the cold and without direct access to its mill in Blytheville, the Lumber Company sold the road for $400,000 to the SSW during 1928. The Frisco opposed the move, but it was over-ruled. The SSW incorporated the BLAS with a couple of other lines as part of its St Francois Basin Project. This project combined these lines and cobbled together a branch line between Malden, Mo and Mc Donald, Ark. The events of October 1929 and the coming onslaught of the automobile, called the wisdom of this project into question.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 23:24:16 +0000
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