Sheldon & Watchout Mountain Railroad

The Sheldon & Watchout Mountain Railroad was a shortline that ran in Sheldon, North Carolina. It connected with the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad and the Sheldon Union Railroad.

History
Shortly after the completion of the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad, the Watchout Mountain Inn was being constructed, under the financial backing of Alfred Holbrook. It was decided that a railroad should be built to serve the Inn. In early 1906, groundbreaking of the S&WM Railroad began and by the end of that year, the line was complete.

Not only did the railroad serve the Inn, but also the local mountain community by delivering their farm produce and lifestock as well as mail and other goods. The line ran with 2 locomotives, a pair of 2-6-4 tank locomotives built by ALCo-Brooks from an 1888 design.

According to historians, the railroad should've been a financial success, but it went thorugh a series of foreclosures and was constantly facing bankruptcy. After a fire destroyed the Watchout Mountain Inn in 1922, the line finally closed down and all property and holdings of the company were seized by the Sheldon National Bank.

A few years later, all holdings of the railroad (including holdings of the Sheldon Union Railroad, the Mount Watchout Railroad and the Watchout Mountain Incline Railway) were sold to the Sheldon Municipal Railway & Transit Company and the line was electrified for trolleys. With that, the company saw major financial success until the 1950s when passenger numbers began to drop. When the Sheldon Cab & Taxi Company was formed, ridership was at an all-time low. With the writing on the wall, the last trolley ran in 1963.

The Transit Company tried to pull itself out of dark times by switching to using buses in the early 1960s, but after an accident involving one of their buses, the concept was quickly dropped. Another reason to add to this was that it was discovered the roads surrounding the county borders were too tight for the buses and the Knoxville & Asheville Railroad had already taken the perfect route for a super highway. And thus, the company folded for good. Today, the tracks are still intact, but are overgrown with weeds and grass.