The MidMid----SouthSouth Flyer Summer 2015 A Publication of the Mid-South Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Inc July Meeting Woodward Iron RR to be featured at July meeting The Woodward Iron Company Railroad was unique in being a keystone in one of the most com- plete vertically integrated industrial companies in the United States. Over four generations of the Woodward family operated a company that was synonymous with Birmingham as a producer of Woodward #35 with hot metal cars at Woodward Iron Furnace circa 1959 (Tom Lawson collection) “merchant iron” from 1881 to 1973 – the actual beginnings of the Woodward Company predate the beginning of the City of Birmingham. The Woodward Company and its leaders were a strong part of Birmingham’s business community, and its building occupied one street corner of the “heaviest corner on Earth.” Third generation A. H. “Rick” Woodward was perhaps one of the most colorful business leaders in Birmingham, including his owning the Birmingham Barons Baseball team, being the builder of Rickwood Field, and being a “millionaire” locomotive engineer. Mid-South member John Stewart has made a study of the Woodward family’s contribution to Birmingham’s indus- trial development, and John will present his research in a narrated slide program at our July 18 chapter meeting. For the benefit of those not familiar with Woodward, John has provided the following preview of his presentation: Before there was a Birmingham in 1871, the Woodward family began land ac- quisition in 1869 that would lead to a company that produced “merchant iron” in Don’t forget the Birmingham for over 90 years. This company would be run by four generations barbeque! of Woodward’s; by far the most colorful family member was A. H. “Rick” Woodward: General Superintendent in 1899, Chairman in 1915 and President in The annual Mid-South 1932. Chapter Covered Dish BBQ The company was founded in 1881, and a railroad was needed for construction. will be held at Noon on Sat- But the Woodward’s were deliberate in their planning. They had waited 12 urday, July 18, prior to the years to start the company after purchasing land, and this deliberate planning chapter meeting at 2:00. included a railroad that would reach and deliver nearly all their raw material Everyone is invited for food needs of red ore, coal and limestone. They would have only limited dependence and fellowship. Fresh bar- on another railroad for the making of iron. Initially this was for brown ore re- beque and drinks will be sources in Tuscaloosa County. provided by the chapter. If you can bring a dish, please On the other hand, the company carefully selected their land acquisition and contact James Lowery at plant site to take advantage not only of their private railroad, but secured con- jlowery2 @gmail.com. nections along the private railroad to nearly all of the “trunk” line railroads in their part of the emerging Birmingham District near Bessemer. Woodward Iron (continued from page 1) Initially 6 miles of mainline and 2 miles of sidings and spurs, the Woodward Iron Company’s Railroad would grow to include over 50 miles of track, yet the mainline never exceeded about 14 miles. In addition the Woodward company utilized close relationships with other railroads, particularly the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic (AB&A) to reach company property with trackage rights operations. This careful attention to managing and controlling their raw material transportation led to a highly successful company with low production costs, even in an area known for low production costs due to the proximity of raw materials. Equipment ranged from narrow gauge “dinkys” to large 2-10-2 locos. Woodward Iron Company’s history includes successes, false starts and failures. Early development didn’t begin until 1881 after carefully watching the developments of the Birmingham District’s earliest iron makers. First the successful Eureka Experiment (Oxmoor) in 1876 proved that local coal could be used to successfully make “coke fueled” iron rather than charcoal iron. But it was not till the success of the Alice Furnace Company in 1880 that the Woodward fam- ily decided to move forward. In 1912 the company began an expansion plan that increased raw material holdings, par- ticularly coal, and led to the acquisition of Birmingham Coal & Iron’s Vanderbilt Furnaces, Mulga coal mine plus addi- tional coal lands and other resources. They also built and expanded a “modern” Koppers coke and by-products plant. In the 1920’s the Woodward’s embarked on two more expansion projects, the Crockard Coal mine including a 4.5 mile rail spur near Mulga and the Vance brown ore mine in the Russellville District of north Alabama. Both of these projects were completed and opened, but quickly idled or abandoned in the face of the softening business climate that preceded the Great Depression. The Great Depression hit all Birmingham industry very hard, and Woodward was no exception. The company went into reorganization under Federal bankruptcy laws. Like many companies Woodward rebounded strongly during WW II, and blew in a fourth blast furnace in 1951. But in spite of subsequent diversification, the overall iron market did not support merchant iron makers in the 1960’s. Woodward was purchased by Mead Corporation in 1968 and subsequently blew out its furnaces in 1973. Editor’s Corner The MidMid----SouthSouth Flyer Summer 2015 Welcome, dear reader, to our little corner of the newsletter! As your editor, I look forward to The Mid-South Flyer is published bi- monthly by the Mid-South Chapter of the using this space to share views and insights on Railway & Locomotive Historical Society our chapter, and I invite you to join me in ex- (R&LHS), Inc. The R&LHS is a non-profit pressing your views as well. educational organization dedicated to the study and preservation of railroad history. This is just one of several new features we are rolling out as part of the National and chapter dues are $50 and expanded quarterly edition of the Mid-South Flyer . In addition, you’ll include subscriptions to the Society’s find the latest news and updates on chapter activities in the Mid-South twice-yearly magazine Railroad History Chapter Update and each issue will spotlight a railroad museum, ex- and quarterly newsletter, and the chap- hibit, or historic attraction of note from within the Mid-South region. ter’s e-newsletter, The Mid-South Flyer . We’ll continue featuring entertaining and educational articles on rail- Membership applications for R&LHS and roading from our regular contributors. Beginning with this issue, con- the Mid-South Chapter are available on the Internet at www.rlhs.org. Article ideas tributing editor David Lester will pen a new column, Railroad History and reader comments are invited and in the Making, focusing on historical developments in railroad tech- may be emailed to: nology and their impact on railroading. And you can look forward to more of John Stewart’s fascinating revelations on local railroad history Marvin Clemons, Editor and personalities. We also hope to feature more member articles and Email: [email protected] trip reports, such as John Browning’s account of the recent R&LHS David Lester, Contributing Editor convention in Altoona, PA, and Stan Burnett’s musings on a bygone Email: [email protected] era of private rail passenger service. So there’s some good stuff hap- pening with your newsletter, and I hope you’ll make it even better with John Stewart, Contributing Editor your contribution. Email: [email protected] 2 Marvin Clemons, Editor Mid-South Chapter Update Reported by James Lowery We are excited about the work of the Mid-South Chapter and the progress we are making on our projects and in- terfaces with other organizations as follows: Leeds Historical Society The Leeds Historic Depot is maintained by the Leeds Historical Society, and our chap- ter is working more closely with that society concerning the depot and plans for railroad themes, artifacts, and photography in the depot. Representatives of the Mid-South Chapter are attending the meetings of the Leeds His- torical Society and are learning a lot from that society. We appreciate all their work in the Leeds area. Leeds Redevelopment Authority The Leeds Redevelopment Authority is working on a master plan for historic areas of downtown Leeds including the railroad areas. We are in discussions with them about that master plan and how our chapter can be involved in downtown developments that center on the railroad and education about the historic nature of railroads in Leeds. We appreciate the authority’s plans for the area and its desire to make down- town Leeds a tourist destination. Interfaces with Other Railroad History Facilities The Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera is an example of a facility in the region covered by the Mid-South Chapter that has a similar educational and historical preserva- tion mission as does the chapter. We plan to work closely with any such facilities in the mid-south region in order to further our chapter’s goals and mission. eInformation Committee A new website for the Mid-South Chapter is currently being developed by the eInfor- mation Committee and will become available to members as soon as hosting issues are resolved. The new site will include a revamped home page on the national Railway & Locomotive Historical Society website and a number of subsidiary pages about the Leeds Historic Depot, the Historic Birmingham Mineral Railroad Signs Project, and an "About Us" page. A block of pages will be devoted to an online version of the Frank Ardrey Exhibit , featuring photos by Ardrey and other photographers.