A Guide to the Charles Grattan Price Jr. Collection on Tweetsie and the Shenandoah Central Railroad, 1916-1997 (bulk 1948-1956) SC 0327

A Guide to the Charles Grattan Price Jr. Collection on Tweetsie and the Shenandoah Central Railroad, 1916-1997 (bulk 1948-1956) SC 0327


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James Madison University Libraries Special Collections

820 Madison Drive
MSC 1706
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
Telephone: (540) 568-3612
library-special@jmu.edu
URL: https://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/

Tiffany Cole

Repository
James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
Identification
SC 0327
Title
Charles Grattan Price Jr. collection on Tweetsie and the Shenandoah Central Railroad 1916-1997 1948-1956
Quantity
1.53 cubic feet, 2 boxes, 1 flat file
Quantity
61.9 Megabytes, 1 digital file comprising a 00:05:23 video recording
Creator
Price, Charles Grattan, Jr., 1919-1996
source
Price, Charles Grattan, III
Language
English .
Abstract
The Charles Grattan Price Jr. Collection on Tweetsie and the Shenandoah Central Railroad, 1916-1997 (bulk 1948-1956), comprises correspondence, printed material, and photographs related to the Shenandoah Central Railroad's narrow gauge engine Tweetsie (locomotive #12) and the one-mile Tweetsie Route, a scenic museum line, in Penn Laird, Virginia that operated from 1953 to 1954.

Administrative Information

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Other Formats Available

All photographs (not including photograph negatives) and W. Graham Claytor's video recording of his family's visit to the Shenandoah Central have been digitized and are available online via Artstor . Duplicate copies of photographs and postcards were not scanned.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Charles Grattan Price Jr. Collection on Tweetsie and the Shenandoah Central Railroad, 1916-1997 (bulk 1948-1956), SC 0327, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to Special Collections in July 2021 by C. Grattan "Butch" Price III, son of C. Grattan Price Jr.

Processing Information

Special Collections staff provided the donor with archival folders prior to transferring materials. The collection was largely received in foldered groupings (correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings) by the donor. Much of the correspondence was received grouped together according to correspondent and bound with staples, likely an arrangement kept by C. Grattan Price Jr. These groupings as well as the staples were left intact to maintain original order.

Duplicate copies of magazines were not retained.

Photographs with affixed labels or extensive writing on the backs are interfiled with paper to prevent bleeding onto surrounding photographs. Photograph titles are based largely on the descriptions provided by C. Grattan Price Jr. All photographs (not including photograph negatives) and W. Graham Claytor Jr.'s video recording of his family's trips to the Shenandoah Central are digitized. Duplicate copies of photographs and postcards were not scanned.


Biographical/Historical Note

At the suggestion of Don W. Thomas, president of the Chesapeake Western Railway, C. Grattan Price Jr., Harrisonburg insurance agent and railroad enthusiast, wrote to the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina (ET&WNC) Railroad in August 1952 about purchasing a narrow gauge steam locomotive and tender as well as narrow gauge cars. Price, along with fellow railfans Wade W. Menefee Jr. and Dr. Paul S. Hill, intended to build a narrow gauge railroad on Hill's farm in Penn Laird, Virginia as a scenic operating museum line. Narrow gauge railways differ from standard railways in that the distance between rails is 3 feet compared to the standard 4 feet, 3 1/2 inches.

Dr. Paul S. Hill (1907-1986) was a surgeon in Harrisonburg. He attended Washington & Lee University and graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School. Hill served as a major with the Medical Corps during World War II. Wade W. Menefee Jr. (1924-2004) was a graduate of Virginia Tech and a World War II veteran. Upon his return from military service, Menefee managed W. M. Menefee & Son, a local feed, fuel, and general supply company. Charles Grattan Price Jr. (1919-1996) graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was a veteran of World War II during which time he served as a railway shop superintendent and was a member of the U.S. Army's military railway service in France. Price was a partner in the insurance firm C. G. Price & Sons, Inc. until his retirement in 1978. He also authored "The Crooked & Weedy": A History of Virginia's Chesapeake Western Railway (1991). He was a resident of Harrisonburg and lived on Franklin Street until 1958 when he moved to Ott street where he lived the remainder of his life.

In November 1952, Price, Menefee, and Hill entered into a partnership agreement forming the Shenandoah Central Railroad. Hill served as Shenandoah Central's president, Price was vice president and general manager, and Menefee was secretary-treasurer. Soon after its formation, Shenandoah Central purchased Tweetsie (aka Locomotive #12), a historic narrow gauge steam locomotive, and two narrow gauge passenger cars from ET&WNC. Prior to its purchase by Shenandoah Central, Tweetsie was a working engine from 1917 to 1950 in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, plying the area's Great Smoky Mountains. Shenandoah Central purchased a third car from Pennsylvania's East Broad Top Railroad. After several failed attempts to locate and acquire rail, Chesapeake Western Railway loaned Shenandoah Central the necessary rail to build the one-mile scenic track which would be known as the Tweetsie Route. Norfolk & Western provided the ties and ballast.

Shenandoah Central Railroad held its Golden Spike Ceremony on May 29, 1953 to mark the official opening of the Tweetsie Route and the inaugural run of the Stonewall Jackson train. The Stonewall Jackson comprised a coach, a combination car, and a screened observation car with Tweetsie pulling the cars. During the Stonewall Jackson's first run, Dr. Paul Hill was Tweetsie's conductor, C. Grattan Price Jr. was engineer, and Wade W. Menefee Jr. was fireman. The ceremony included remarks by Don W. Thomas, president of the Chesapeake Western Railway; F. S. Baird, vice president of the Norfolk & Western; Sherman Pippin, retired ET&WNC engineer who was the engineer on Tweetsie's last run in 1950; and C. Grattan Price and Wade Menefee Jr. on behalf of the Shenandoah Central Railroad among others. Music was provided by the Harrisonburg High School band and included the songs "Dixie" and "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Major General Carl R. Gray Jr, Administrator of Veterans Affairs, drove the golden spike.

After two operating seasons, which saw more than 15,000 visitors, the partners were forced to place Tweetsie and the cars up for sale due to insufficient patronage and resulting loss of money. Additionally, flooding from Hurricane Hazel which hit Virginia in October 1954 damaged the track and roadbed beyond what was financially feasible for the partners to repair.

Actor and singer-songwriter Gene Autry inquired about purchasing Tweetsie and related equipment in April 1955. He intended to use the locomotive and equipment in his television and movie projects. Autry even planned to come to Harrisonburg in the spring of 1955 to finalize the arrangements, a visit that was eagerly anticipated by community members and local press. However, by the end of August 1955, the Autry Deal was dead due to the cost to transport the locomotive and equipment from Virginia to Autry's Melody Ranch in California as well as the cost to lay the rails.

During the spring of 1955, singer, musical actor, and automobile enthusiast James Melton also expressed interest in Tweetsie for display in his antique automobile museum, James Melton Autorama, in Hypoluxo, Florida.

Grover C. Robbins Jr. of Lenoir, North Carolina ultimately purchased the Tweetsie locomotive and equipment on August 25, 1955 for $17,000. The Tweetsie Railroad is still in operation in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Scope and Content

The Charles Grattan Price Jr. Collection on Tweetsie and the Shenandoah Central Railroad, 1916-1997 (bulk 1948-1956), comprises correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, printed articles, and promotional materials concerning the purchase of Tweetsie, narrow gauge locomotive #12, and related equipment by the Shenandoah Central Railroad in 1952; the opening of the Tweetsie Route in Penn Laird, Virginia in 1953; and the eventual sale of Tweetsie and equipment in 1955.

Photographs primarily document Tweetsie and the Stonewall Jackson train on the Tweetsie Route in Penn Laird and include passengers and railroad workers.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three series. All series are arranged chronologically.

Correspondence, 1916-1997 Printed and Promotional Materials, 1952-1997 Photographs, 1952-1954

Separated Material

Two books were removed from the collection and cataloged individually as part of Special Collections rare book holdings: Mallory Hope Ferrell's Tweetsie Country: The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad (1976) and Clyde J. Dellinger's Tweetsie and The Clinchfield Railroads: Crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains (1975).


Subjects and Indexing Terms


Significant Persons Associated With the Collection

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Significant Places Associated With the Collection

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Container List

1
Correspondence
1916-19971948-1956
Scope and Content

Series 1: Correspondence, 1916-1997 (bulk 1948-1956), primarily comprises correspondence relating to the purchase and subsequent sale of the Tweetsie narrow gauge locomotive, cars, and related equipment and infrastructure. One file of legal and financial documents containing annual reports, agreements, and tax documents is also included. The correspondence is arranged chronologically and according to correspondent.

The East Tennessee and Western North Carolina (ET&WNC) Railroad Company correspondence file also includes bills of lading, inspection and repair reports, and designs for locomotive #12. A souvenir program celebrating ET&WNC's 85th anniversary is also included.

The Shenandoah Central Railroad file contains correspondence as well as the railroad's first annual report, a contract between George W. Anderson of Bridgewater and Shenandoah Central Railroad for railroad ties, and a list comprising the guests of honor attending the Golden Spike Ceremony on May 29, 1953 as well as a list of contributors and non-contributors.

Correspondence between Price and cartoonist and railroad enthusiast Carl Fallberg concerns Fallberg's 1953 cartoon drawing of the Shenandoah Central Railroad commissioned by Price. Mulitple copies of the cartoon are included.

Correspondence with Gene Autry concerns Autry's intended option to purchase the Tweetsie locomotive for use on his California ranch and in movies. Autry ultimately backed out on the purchase agreement due to the cost to transport and erect the narrow gauge locomotive and equipment. Financial agreements, legal documents, telegrams, and memoranda concerning the Autry Deal supplement the correspondence.

Additional correspondence includes Price's offer to various movie studios including Warner Brothers, Republic Productions, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Walt Disney to purchase Tweetsie and their respective responses. The new theme park Disneyland was undergoing construction at this time and Price was advised that Walt Disney might be interested in purchasing the locomotive and cars to incorporate into the new theme park. Disney responded that all of the locomotives and trains were being built on-site and scaled down to 5/8 the size. Price also wrote to Los Angeles-area newspapers urging them to write a human interest story about Tweetsie.

A single file of legal and financial documents is included in this series and filed after the correspondence. Shenandoah Central's first and second annual report, legal agreements, and tax documents are included.

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2
Printed and Promotional Materials
1952-1997
Scope and Content

Series 2: Printed and Promotional Materials, 1952-1997, comprises magazine articles, printed news stories, and newspaper clippings concerning Tweetsie, the Tweetsie Route, and the Shenandoah Central Railroad. Press releases, promotional ephemera, brochures, and invitations and name tags for the Golden Spike Ceremony are included. A 1997 print of Gil Reid's 1954 watercolor "Tweetsie," created to support Rockingham Public Library's capital campaign fund, is included

Of particular interest is a five-minute home video documenting the Claytor family's trips to Penn Laird to visit the Shenandoah Central Railroad and ride the Tweetsie Route in 1953 and 1954. The footage is narrated by W. Graham Claytor Jr., Price's friend and fellow railroad enthusiast, and features Claytor's wife Frances, and children Murray and Graham III.

C. Grattan Price Jr.'s undated draft manuscript "All Steam and a Yard Wide" provides an incomplete historical account Shenandoah Central Railroad, its partners, and Tweetsie.

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3
Photographs
1949-1954
Scope and Content

Series 3: Photographs, 1949-1954, primarily comprises black-and-white photographs of Tweetsie and the Stonewall Jackson train along the Tweetsie Route in Penn Laird. Railroad employees and passengers are photographed in the train and inside the depot. Photographs of the May 29, 1953 Golden Spike Ceremony are also included. Six photographs document Tweetsie when it was part of the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad Company. Many of the photographs are captioned with people, places, and dates identified. Postcards and color photograph negatives are included. Duplicate copies of photographs and postcards were retained.

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