The Rogue River Valley Railway carried passengers, freight, and mail between Jacksonville and Medford from 1891 until 1925. Local residents had high hopes for the five-mile short line because Jacksonville, once a thriving trade center, had lost economic fortunes after the mainline railroad bypassed it in the 1880s. The railroad was expected to revive the economy, provide easy access to the county courthouse while Jacksonville remained the county seat, and connect with Southern Pacific tracks in Medford to link the town to world markets. Although it had a number of different owners, William Barnum operated it as a family business with his wife and sons for much of its existence, and in 1893 his thirteen-year-old son John Barnum was featured in a railroad magazine as the nation’s youngest conductor. As automobiles became more common, the modest train system could not maintain a profit. It failed to revive Jacksonville’s economy, and in 1925 the line closed, its rolling stock sold and its rails paved over or recycled.