The Shortest Railroad In The World

From the early 1900's to the 1930's, there used to be a railroad for hauling lumber at Stanwood, Washington, known as the Hall & Hall Railroad. At the time, the Hall & Hall Railroad (H & H Railroad) was called the shortest railroad in the world. The railroad 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 railroad streetcar which 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 in about 1941.

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Andrew Craig Magnuson
Forks, Washington
February 15, 2007