North Mississippi & Alabama Railroad

09/02/2026

Drone photos recently taken by a very famous YouTuber. They will be doing a short story about our Railroad in the upcoming months. We will share the link when available.

The massive scale of this bridge cannot be understood until you visit in person !
It has (two) an upper and lower level inspection/service walkway platforms with hand railings on the underside. As well as 6 large navigation lights. Power lines for the lighting are over 2.5 miles long to reach this remote location.

Being almost 130ft above the water, we plan to offer an amazing “bridge hike” Experience (over and all under) for the brave hearted thrill seekers in the future !

Photos just don’t do it justice!

08/20/2026

One of our latest shop projects.
You don’t see one of these everyday !

Multiple use, 2026 model machine, with lots of attachments. We spec. this unit from Kubota to meet our needs. Then we up-fitted in house with 14k rated Hydraulic (in cab controlled) hi rail gear.

Thanks to our friends at
Chris Dickerson Fab and Welding in Booneville, MS for there assistance with fab work on our mounting plates.

First will brush cutting duty.
It will have front and rear mounted side cutters.
Capable of cutting 17ft. Plus high and 16ft. to each side.

08/20/2026

Some of them just don’t make it ahead of the torch. We love to save them when it is anywhere close to feasible.

But that was not the case a few years ago for this South MS area 25 Ton GE locomotive.

We salvaged all usable and valuable parts, we said our final good by, the rest got melted down.

08/13/2026

08/04/2026

North MS & AL Railroad, LLC
has openings for the following:

* seasonal general track laborers
* shop and grounds keeping laborers
(to replace some that have returned to school).

* experienced logger, crew leader,
chainsaw operator
Forestry equipment operator, must know wood species well and the wood market well
(This will be a full time position)

Always outdoors, must be physically fit enough to handle the Mississippi heat and humidity!
Have lots of self motivation and drive.
A Dependable method of
“self” transportation.

Must :
Pass drug test
Pass physical
Have a Valid drivers license

Positions can turn into full time work for the right candidate.

Somewhat Flexible schedule
Competitive pay
Please share !

Message for more details
Thanks !
North Mississippi & Alabama Railroad

07/26/2026

Progress………..
Slow go, but Progress

Same section/area of track.

First shot was summer of 2024
Second shot is May 2026

It can be done with determination and time!

Last shot is another untouched area that we will be focusing on soon. Kudzu is extremely hard to tame. We have 3-4 areas that it has taken over. The Ice storm damage still has us blocked from being able to access the kudzu areas.

07/23/2026

Today’s ………….

!!! THROWBACK THURSDAY !!!

THE SEMINOLE WRECK:

Today we are going to discuss a horrible tragedy that took place many years ago on our rail line.

On November, 23rd 1941 the Famous ICRR No. 10 First Class Seminole passenger train departed Red Bay, AL depot at approximately 4:11pm. The train was headed northbound towards Corinth MS. The train had departed Florida earlier, with its final destination being Chicago Illinois the following day.
The motive power on this particular train was locomotive # ICRR 2413, which was a large steam powered, 4-8-2 wheel configuration locomotive, with its tender.
These were powerful engines for that time period, and were designed for use in mountain terrain. But the Illinois Central Railroad choose them for power and speed use!

After the stop in Red Bay, the train was heavily loaded, but passed all inspection by its crew, and all seemed to be ready for its next section of rail travel.
The make up of the train consisted of 13 cars, which was a mix of 1 baggage car, 2 US Mail cars, 1 Dinning car, along with several passenger coaches.

No one knew it would be the last train trip for some people aboard, nor about the life changing events that was about to take place.

The train traveled almost the entire length of our present day line, and was nearly at the Corinth MS Yard. The locomotive was in view of the yard signals, traveling at speeds between 55-70 mph , when the train suddenly je**ed and came apart.
The locomotive and its tender along with 1-2 cars stayed on the track, but a section of the train in the middle left the track and darted off a very tall embankment on the northeast side of the line.
When the noise and dust cleared, there were 9 cars total which had derailed, several cars went off completely, or partially off the embankment.
One being the Dinning car which had bursted into flames! It was reported that the car burned for several hours.

This was one of the worst passenger train accidents the railroad has seen in years. And at that time, was one of the worst ever with the famous Seminole Train.

The high speed derailment took the lives of 3 people and injured 113 according to the ICC report.
The engineer of the train, Buck Towes of Jackson TN was not injured. Nor was his fireman.
But the Conductor, Walter Ranson, also of Jackson TN (which at the time of the incident was in the section that left the rails) was critically injured, with life treating injuries

This incident took place near our present day property line, where our line ties into Norfolk Southern Railroad.
Which is at milepost IC 529.5

After the investigation, it was determined that a “transverse fissure” is what cause the derailment. Which is a long horizontal type crack, which is internal within the ball or head of a rail. It can not always be detected with the naked eye. We now have equipment that can detect this type flaw in railroad rail.

This area will always be dedicated to the ones that lost there lives in this tragedy.
We will be placing a memorial marker at this location in the future.

We have attached parts of the ICC report, as well as a photo of the exact locomotive that was on this train that horrific night.

If anyone has more any other information on this wreck, or know any of the names that lost their life here, please comment or notify us.

Thank you !

07/20/2026

PART 3
Steam locomotive move

TENDER MOVE :

A tender is used to haul the water and coal for the locomotive. This tender was the original matching tender that came with the locomotive when delivered.
This design is called a
“Slopeback tender” or as some in the south call them a “Slantback tender”. The design was mainly used on smaller switcher type locomotives to enable for the crew to have a better view when backing. While hauling less than the other types, it did not effect the switchers due to them being used in more local service and close to water sources and coal stockpiles.

This tender only received a good cleaning and a “rust preventive” coat of paint, and maybe a little oil in the journal boxes. It also had several missing parts such as steps, grab handles, couplers, air lines, storage boxes and etc. Some of these items were replaced before it left, and some were added to it later after it was set up at new location.
Compared to the locomotive, moving the tender was fairly simple.
Once it was made ready for shipping the fun started.
The track had head high weeds and down trees across it in a few areas. It had to be cleared for approximately 400 yards to reach the load out location that could accommodate big trucks and cranes.
After track was cleared and inspected it was determined the the track could hold the weight of the simple empty tender. It was then pushed the approximate 400 yards down the track, with a rubber tire loader/backhoe. Everything went well on this move.
A few weeks later on an extremely cold (for a southerner) January 15, 2024 we were scheduled with a local crane company to lift it onto a double drop, front detach lowboy trailer.
And with the right permits in place it left out the same day on its long journey south !

A big thanks goes out to Sailor & Sons Crane
Those guys did and absolute fantastic job ! Some of the best guys we have ever worked with ! Very professional crew.

When it arrived south a few days later, it was left setting on the same trailer and parked in a storage yard that was only 1/2 mile from the unloaded site. It sat there until August 19th. 2024, the day before the locomotive arrived. By this time, (7 months later) the paint had already begun to fad.
We offloaded utilizing the same crane company that was set up and scheduled for the locomotive lift which took place the following day.
Everything went perfectly and as planned!

A big thanks goes out to our long time friends and local heavy haulers at Movin Iron in Red Bay, AL for the flawless move and letting us keep your trailer tied up for 7 months. They have moved hundreds of loads for us over the years. No matter the size or difficulties, we have always been happy with the results!

The offload was handled by Maxim Crane Works out of Decatur, AL. They also did a fantastic job !

Stay tuned for the next part !

07/16/2026

We have had several local folks around the Red Bay, Belmont, Golden, Dennis (south end of the line) area asking about our progress on rehab. as well as the ice storm clean up on the Railroad.

We want everyone to understand that our Railroad is 42 miles long, and with the sidings and spur tracks a total of about 45 miles to maintain.

The Railroad starts in Corinth and dead ends in Red Bay.
Our office/shop and yard facilities are located at approximately the “halfway point” on the line in Paden/Tishomingo MS area.

This strategically places most all of our resources where we can start work in a north or south direction each day.
So naturally the “center section” of our line will always receive priority because of most equipment being rail bound equipment “has to work in/out of that area”.
If folks from the south end or north end of the line were to view areas of the “center section” of the line, they would say wow these guys are doing something with the railroad ! We get compliments regularly from folks in the “middle”.

As most of you know, we just took control of the line in late Jan. 2025. Weeds were over head high the entire 45 miles, and thousands of trees were down due to 40 years of neglect and no maintenance on the right of way.
Our predecessor left the railroad 2-3 years before we took control. So there were years of wind storms and tornado damage, as well as washed out areas from floods during the years no one was on the line.

Needless to say, we took on one heck of challenge !

Now, on top of all of this, it’s a railroad that has absolutely ZERO revenue.

We just want the community to know, that regardless of all the obstacles we have faced, the spring of 2025 tornado outbreak, the 2026 Ice storm, and the recent straight line wind event , we are still making tons of progress !

ALL OF THE LINE DOES NOT LOOK (or ride) LIKE THE SOUTH END or THE NORTH END !!

More than 1/2 of our line could except 10mph rail traffic today ! It has only been a 10mph railroad for over 20 years now. But that will change one day.

There are approximately 13 miles of Ice storm damage left out of 23.5 miles on the north end of the line. As well as a few minor track repairs needed
And approximately 7 miles of vegetation and trees still on the south end. As well as numerous track repairs needed. In a nutshell the south end is in worse condition than the rest, and that is where the only customers have always been located.

Here is a quick summary of rehabilitation work that has taken place since we took control of the line.

* Approximately 20 miles of storm trees have been removed from ROW

* Approximately 21 miles of herbicides applied multiple times
(Several areas received a side “brush application”

* Over 2,800 crossties have been installed and tamped

* Over 5 miles of track re-gauging has taken place.

* Over 200 rail joints have been repaired with all new materials.

* 3- track switches have received maintenance and upgrades

* 4 wash out areas have been repaired

* 2 culverts were cleaned out

* 1 culvert was repaired

* All grade crossing signals we’re taken out of service and prepped for long term storage

* Approximately a 500ft area of track has received a FULL rehabilitation with all new materials. (Every tie) and OTM

* 1- Fully new grade crossing is currently being built / installed

* All bridges were throughly inspected, in addition to some minor maintenance performed.

* expanded / updated our rail equipment fleet

All of this is TOTALLY out of pocket expenses with ZERO assistance of any kind, from ANY other sources.
We are only a small company/crew doing the best we can. ALL these things take time and LOTS of funding !!!!

HOWEVER,
We will be announcing very soon, details on several Grants that we have recently received totaling up to around $1.8M since our beginning !! Along with some other exciting historical preservation news.
These grant funded projects will be beginning soon and are all on the north end of the Railroad.

We see progress, other just see weeds growing up when they cross over a grade crossing. You can’t correct 50 years of neglect in 2 years.

We are truly passionate about our community ! We love our Railroad and all the wonderful people in the towns it travels through that support us and cheer us on with words of encouragement !

Please be patient with us as we work through this MASSIVE UNDERTAKING!
It WILL HAPPEN !

Everyone WILL hear the train whistle blowing again in the future !!!

(Photos are all from the “center section” of our railroad).

07/09/2026

Time for another quick……….

THROWBACK THURSDAY !!

Today we travel all the way back to 1942

We love to share some of the cool historical equipment we have had the opportunity to repair and service throughout the years.

While there are a few still around, this one is a rare one for sure.
During my 32 year career this is the only one I have ever been involved with.

This is a 1942 Porter Centercab switcher locomotive. It weights 85,250lbs. It is equipped with 2- 150hp Cummins diesel engines, and Westinghouse air brake equipment.
These were considered a competitor unit to the more popular GE 45 ton switchers which dominated the market in that time period.
We found a cool fully detailed document buried up inside the cab (see photo). The unit was complete, and a very solid locomotive.

At the time, (May, 2024) the locomotive was in storage on a back track at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, PA.
It was a pleasure meeting staff and working there that day. Very helpful and friendly folks.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit them, you will enjoy all they have to offer!

This locomotive was purchased by a customer of ours, and we were needed to basically prep the unit for trucking to another distant location.

Due to trucking restrictions on the route, we had to separate the trucks/wheel sets from the body/frame.
We had it ready for the crane to hook to by around noon that day.

We were not involved with the actual crane loading or trucking the following week.

While we do not know it’s current condition, or exact location, we were told that they did get it back up and running a few weeks after they got it.

You may possibly see it working again on the famous Grand Bellevue Dinner Train one day in Rhode Island ?

I know it will be well preserved there !