H and H Railroad

The H & H Railroad, also known as Hall & Hall, Stanwood Street Railway or colloquially Dinky, ran over a 1 mile (1.6 km) long track from East Stanwood to Stanwood in Snohomish County, Washington.[1] It was proclaimed "the shortest railroad in the world" by residents of Stanwood.[2]

H & H Railroad
Stanwood Street Railway – Livery in Connection
Technical
Line length1 mi (1.6 km)
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map
to Everett
GWR Stanwood depot in East Stanwood
to Mount Vernon
0 mi Transfer to Great Northern Railway
East Stanwood
1 mi Stanwood

Route

The short, one-mile-long (1.6 km) rail line connected the newly built Stanwood depot on the Great Northern Railway with downtown Stanwood. The railroad tracks ran along 271st Street from 102nd Avenue to the depot in East Stanwood on the south side of the street, roughly where the sidewalks are today.[3]

History

Stanwood was settled in the 1870s and in 1891 received its first station on the Seattle and Montana Railroad, which later merged into the Great Northern Railway.[4][5] The station was located in the less flood-prone area one mile (1.6 km) east of the town, which was on the bank of the Stillaguamish River. A new railway was constructed between the depot and Stanwood in 1904 by local businessman John W. Hall.[6]

The railway was operated by John W. Hall (1870–1931), his wife Alice and later their son Jesse.[1] He ordered a crew to demolish one corner of his stable on Market Street and Saratoga Street to lay the tracks of the H & H Railroad to East Stanwood. From 1904, the "Dinky" transported passengers and cargo between the town and depot.[3]

HC Anderson (1865–1914) was the main investor and the Stanwood Lumber Company initially the main client of the railway. Occasionally, it was used by children on the way to and from school. By the 1920s, passenger service was eliminated due to competition from automobiles. The railroad ceased operations in 1938 because of the low traffic and the completion of new highways between the two towns.[6][7][8]

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References
  1. Prasse, Karen (April 5, 2008). "Stanwood — Thumbnail History". HistoryLink. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  2. Essex, Alice (1971). The Stanwood Story, Volume I. Stanwood Camano News. pp. 25–26, 62, 92–93. OCLC 36113496.
  3. Schmidt, Carol (July 4, 2017). "News Files: Shortest steam train ran a mile in 1907". Stanwood Camano News. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  4. Prasse, Karen (September 13, 2008). "Railroad between Seattle and British Columbia is completed near Stanwood on October 12, 1891". HistoryLink. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  5. "Rocks For Roadbed". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. October 15, 1891. p. 5. Retrieved July 12, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Stanwood Station Project" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. May 2006. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  7. "Twin Cities: Stanwood and East Stanwood". The Seattle Times. October 30, 1949. p. 1.
  8. Federal Writers' Project (1941). The WPA Guide to Washington: The Evergreen State. American Guide Series. Works Progress Administration. pp. 476–477. OCLC 881468746. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
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