There is a small town in upstate South Carolina (just South of Spartanburg) called Startex. In earlier years, the town was called Tucapau (spelled as one resident believes). Recently, I was reading a book about the Piedmont & Northern RR, and noticed the author spelled the name as "Tucapa" in the text but it was not included on any of his maps. Since the Piedmont & Northern, Southern, and ACL passed through this town, perhaps someone has an old map with the official spelling for "Tucapa_." Thanks

-- Gene (workmans@thomson.net), February 23, 1999

Answers

Steve, I think the book Gene may be referring to is PIEDMONT & NORTHERN, The Great Electric Railway of the South by Thomas T. Fetters and Peter W. Swanson, Jr. ,published 1974 by Golden West Books of (then) San Marino ,CA. I picked up a copy at a railroad show a few years back. This is the only book I know of about the P & N. Maybe someone else can list others.

-- Bob Venditti (bobvend@bellsouth.net), August 31, 1999.

Addendum to my last addendum.

I need to clarify: what I should have said is that the ACL did not have a presence in the Tucapau area until it brought the P&N under its wing. Sorry.

-- Lee R. Brown (LRBrown999@aol.com), August 31, 1999.

Addendum to my last.

The ACL never did and still doesn't run through Tucapau. The C&WC, which was brought under the ACL umbrella in 1960, came to Spartanburg from the south; it terminated about 10 miles east of Tucapau. The C&WC connected to the old Clinchfield at Spartanburg. I worked for the C&WC as a telegrapher from 1948 to 1955.

-- Lee R. Brown (LRBrown999@aol.com), August 31, 1999.

Gene -

It's Tucapau. I am from Wellford. Over the years, when someone would happen to ask me where I was from, I would tell them 'Wellford, SC'. This usually brought the response: Where in the heck is Wellford? To this I would answer, "About 3 miles from Tucapau". Back during WWII, the P&N railroad was our chief mode of transportation. The fare was a penny a mile; it cost 11 cents to ride from Tucapau to Spartanburg. The P&N, in those days, was known as the 'Poor & Needy'.

Incidently, no railroads ran through Tucapau. (I'm speaking here of the Tucapau of old; I'm not sure where the Startex limits are). The P&N runs through an area over on US Highway 29 which was known as 'Tucapau Stop'. That's probably a couple of miles from what was then known as Tucapau. The Southern Railroad, which runs through Wellford, is a mile beyond the P&N line. The Southern closely parallels the P&N between Spartanburg & Greenville. A spur from the Southern main line to Startex Mill crossed the P&N at Tucapau stop; both lines used this spur to service the mill.

-- Lee R. Brown (LRBrown999@aol.com), August 31, 1999.

Gene -

There is a TUCAPAU Road around here(Spartanburg County, SC). I will see if I can find out anything more for you. By the way, the Piedmont & Northern Depot is still standing, in perfect condition, at Greer, SC. I tried renting space in it for a RR hobby shop, but it doesn't meet contemporary building codes. Would be interested in the name and source of the P&N book you mention!

- Steve Busch

-- Steve Busch (SCSBusch@Worldnet.ATT.net), July 08, 1999.