In 1857, my ggrandfather Capt. Benjamin Darracott worked for the Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac. An article in the Petersburg paper of 1857 says that he published "A Guide to the Great Southern Railway Mailline". He is known to have been completely knowledgable about where all the rail lines went and was "a walking encyclopedia of railroads". I am looking for a copy of this document. I have searched the Virginia State Library, RF&P RR records on Microfilm at the VSL, books by Prince on Steamboats and Railroads, ebay and Amazon on Railroads. Do you have further suggestion for where I could look.

-- Mary Jane Stokes (mjmickey@worldnet.att.net), March 29, 2001

Answers

Mary Jane - There's always the Library of Congress in Washington, DC If the book was copyrighted, there would have been two copies deposited at the LofC.

-- Tom Underwood (tlunder@attglobal.net), March 29, 2001.

Try Frank Scheer of Alexandria, VA. He probably in the Telephone information network, and sells on ebay at an email address "fscheer@erols.com" or .net.

Frank maintains probably the most extensive Railway Post Office collection in the country, and if he can't supply what you need, most assuredly he will point you cheerfully in the right direction.

-- Matt Bumgarner (stealthnfo@aol.com), March 29, 2001.

Since the U.S. Southern Railway didn't exist until 1894, this may refer to the Southern Railway in England.

-- Richard Fisher (gladhand@erols.com), April 01, 2001.

Richard - Mary Jane's enquiry mentions the year 1857. The Southern Railway of England wasn't created until the government mandated grouping on January 1, 1924. The Southern Railway in the USA was created in a merger in June 1894. The title of the publication in the question is generic, "a great southern mainline", a probably refers to the direct route south made up of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac, Richmond & Petersburg, Petersburg, Wilmington & Weldon, etc., of the 1850's-1860's.

-- Tom Underwood (tlunder@attglobal.net), April 03, 2001.