Shortest Steam Railroad in the World
From the early 1900's to the 1930's there used to be a railroad for hauling both lumber
and passengers at Stanwood, Washington known as the Hall & Hall Railroad. At the time, the
Hall & Hall Railroad (H&H RR Co.) was called the shortest steam railroad in the
world. The railroad was owned and operated by John Hall and was only one mile long, running
from a couple lumber mills along the Stillaguamish River at Stanwood, to the Great Northern
Railroad at East Stanwood. The above photograph shows the Hall & Hall No. 1 locomotive,
which replaced a steam dummy named "Dinky" that pulled a passenger coach that is said to
have been a former Seattle streetcar. The steam dummy, a common name for a small enclosed
steam powered railcar, also pulled freight cars carrying lumber. The Hall & Hall No. 1
locomotive was a Climax, Class B, 20-ton locomotive (c/n 407), built in 1903 by the Climax
Manufacturing Company, at Corry, Pennsylvania. Prior to hauling lumber on the Hall & Hall
Railroad at Stanwood, the locomotive hauled for a lumber company at Eufaula, Washington
and for a couple different lumber companies at Maple Valley, Washington. The locomotive was
scrapped about 1941.
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