Heat.net

Heat.net Store Home


1878 Quincy Missouri & Pacific Railroad Annual Pass Antique Train McComb For Sale


1878 Quincy Missouri & Pacific Railroad Annual  Pass Antique Train McComb
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Buy Now

1878 Quincy Missouri & Pacific Railroad Annual Pass Antique Train McComb:
$220.00

Very nice condition. Great piece of history. Measure about 2.25x4 see my other 1870s passes from Quincy Missouri while they last



Colonel Henry Simpson (H. S.) McComb (1825–1881), a Delaware-born leather manufacturer, Civil War officer, and major railroad promoter/financier. 

The pass is from the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad Company (organized 1869 to build west from the Mississippi River opposite Quincy, Illinois, into Missouri). It is made out to “H. S. McComb President” (the cursive reads that way), numbered 505, valid until December 31, 1878 (unless otherwise ordered), and signed by Superintendent F. A. Thompson. The handwritten line across the middle refers to the Mississippi line he controlled (often associated with the Mississippi Central / related Southern roads). It was a courtesy annual pass issued to him in his capacity as a railroad president. 

Key facts about McComb

• Early life and business: Born July 28, 1825, in Wilmington, Delaware. He started as a currier/leather worker, built a successful leather-goods business, and became one of the leading suppliers of tents, knapsacks, and other equipment to the Union Army during the Civil War. 

• Military service: He raised and equipped the 5th Delaware Infantry at his own expense and served as its colonel (hence the common title “Colonel McComb”). He also had guard duty on the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad. 

• Railroad career: After the war he moved into Southern railroad reconstruction as a Northern investor (“carpetbag” operator in the language of the time). He gained control of the Mississippi Central Railroad (roughly 1865–1868) and the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad, rebuilt and expanded them, and worked toward a through line connecting the Gulf to the Midwest. In 1872 he founded the town of McComb, Mississippi (named for him), specifically to locate locomotive and car shops away from the saloons of New Orleans; the city charter originally banned alcohol sales. He also had earlier ties to the Union Pacific and was involved in the Credit Mobilier construction scandal of the Grant era (his complaints helped bring the affair into the open). 

• Later years and death: He continued railroad promotion (including efforts involving Delaware lines) until his death on December 31, 1881. The city of McComb, MS, and its railroad museum still commemorate him as the founder. 

In short, this 1878 pass is a piece of railroadiana linking a prominent post–Civil War railroad executive to a midwestern line that was still under construction/expansion at the time (the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific later became part of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City and eventually the Burlington system). The “President” title on the pass refers to McComb’s role heading his Mississippi railroad interests, not the Quincy road itself.


Buy Now

Other Related Items:



Related Items:

1878 QUINCY ILLINOIS Railway Draw Bridge  - Map ORIGINAL Warren Survey picture

1878 QUINCY ILLINOIS Railway Draw Bridge - Map ORIGINAL Warren Survey

$36.00



1878 Quincy Missouri & Pacific Railroad Annual  Pass Antique Train McComb picture

1878 Quincy Missouri & Pacific Railroad Annual Pass Antique Train McComb

$220.00



Old Map of Quincy, MA 1878 - Vintage Quincy Massachusetts Ar picture

Old Map of Quincy, MA 1878 - Vintage Quincy Massachusetts Ar

$52.99