1849 Ringgold, GA Train Depot

Back in 1849, Ringgold was the largest city in the area, even larger than nearby Chattanooga. The depot is made of stone which was common in the area at the time.

In 1862, the Ringgold Depot was one of the places to be a part of the Civil War's famous Great Locomotive Chase. Travelling north along the Western and Atlantic tracks, Andrew's Raiders would abandon The General steam locomotive about two miles north of here.

The depot is situated on a bit of an incline from the road below. The main road through town, which used to be the Dixie Highway and is now US41 runs between this vantage point and the station. The road passes under the tracks. The main part of town is to the left.

Today, the building has been restored and the town of Ringgold uses it as a community meeting hall. Originally W&A, the tracks later became part of NCStL and are now CSX. The depot is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

NCStL Train Depot - Lebanon, TN

The NCStL Train Station located one block south of the Lebanon town square along highway US231 is stop #2 on the Historic Lebanon Driving tour. Here is the text from that brochure:

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad Depot was built in 1916. Lebanon’s first depot was built in 1869 for the Tennessee & Pacific Railroad one mile south of the present site.

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad acquired the line in 1877. The old depot was abandoned and a new depot built closer to the Square.

This depot was used until the last passenger train pulled out of Lebanon in the 1930s. Passenger Rail Service did not return until 2006 with the Music City Star.

Today, the old station is used as offices for Shenandoah Mills. On their website, they say:
Our home is the original Lebanon Train Depot, constructed in the early 1900′s. We have completely renovated the facility to preserve and restore it’s integrity as well as to keep our equipment fresh and innovative. In 1996, we were awarded the William Baird Beautification Award and the Lebanon-Wilson County Chamber of Commerce Cedar Tree award. shenandoahmills.com/about/

Old and New Bridgeport, AL river bridge

This is an important spot for railroads in the south as all of the CSX trains that run from Nashville to Chattanooga cross through here. I can't find any details on how old the old bridge is, but the river was first crossed here by NCStL in 1852.

The bridges here cross the Tennessee River. One of the reasons this spot was picked is there is an approx 1000 ft. island 2/3 of the way to the other side at this spot. The tracks cross the wider 1000 ft. portion of the river with what you see in the foreground, and then there is a smaller 500 ft. lift bridge in the background.

The lift bridge was placed here in 1981 from unused train line elsewhere. It's rather inaccessible unless you're a railroad employee who takes a gravel road on the other side.



Unfortunately, the pedestrian bridge clearly marks it's for employees only, which is a shame.

I'm not sure how new the new bridge on the left is. It's at least newer than 1995. On GreenFrog.com, (a great website for railfan videos) they have a CSX video from Chattanooga to Nashville, filmed in the mid 90's and featuring the bridges here before the new one was built.

Colemere / Monell's at the Manor - Nashville

The mansion shown here was originally the home of retired NCStL Railway President E.W. Cole. It was built in 1931 to replace the first mansion here which burned down. The area became an important property with its location along Murfreesboro Road (US41/70S) next door to the Nashville airport.

In 1948, a group of businessmen turned the mansion into a private club known as the Colemere Club. In 1977 it became the popular seafood restaurant New Orleans Manor. In 2011, southern family style buffet restaurant Monell's opened up a second location at the Manor.

Jackson, TN NCSTL Depot

The brick building in Jackson was built in 1907 and is now open as a museum.

NC&StL Boxcar PS-1 No. 22524 - Cowan, TN

This Boxcar was built in Feb. 1952 and used by CSX up until the 1980's. Today, the boxcar is on loan from the Tennessee Central Railway Museum and is on display at the Cowan Railroad Museum. This photo was taken a couple of years ago, and is probably going to get repainted. You can see where the repainted the "To and from Dixieland" slogan on the side. This boxcar may have been saved from the scrap heap as the words "Scrap Metal" had been painted on here, then painted over.

To see my other photos from the Depot Museum, look here:
www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/tags/cowanrailroadm...

NCStL #710 - Copperhill, TN

I didn't think I'd ever see an NCStL locomotive out in the wild, but I saw this EMD GP7 parked in a train yard outside of Copperhill, TN. I'd like to think I just happened to stumble across a vintage locomotive that just happened to be sitting around. Realistically, that kind of thing doesn't happen too often.

As it turns out, this locomotive is used by the Tennessee Valley Railway Museum based out of Chattanooga. One of their excursions called the Hiwassee River Rail starts from Gee Creek near Etowah and occasionally goes all the way to Copperhill.

During the years the GP7 was made, NCStL purchased 37 of them. Before acquired by TVRM, it spent several decades with Amtrak.

Sparta, TN NC&StL Depot

Built in 1917 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now is a business.

Cowan TN typical brochure view

The sign reads:
COWAN, TENNESSEE
Named in honor of Major John Cowan, early pioneer settler Major William Russel first settled here in 1800, his home serving as the first Court House 1807-1814

1848-1854:
N&C Railroad constructed the world's longest tunnel and steepest grade railroad

1855:
9 mi. spur line to Sewanee Mountain completed by Sewanee Mining Company.

1863-1864:
Confederate and Federal Armies camped in Cowan.

Failure of Confederate Forces to destroy the tunnel provided General Sherman with a direct line of supply for his march through Georgia.
Erected 1974

Railroad Bridge over Barren Fork - McMinnville, TN

I can't find too much information on how old this bridge is, but there was a railroad line that ran from McMinnville to Tullahoma before the Civil War. During the war, the north destroyed every bridge on this line between the two cities, including the one that crossed the Barren Fork River, which I assume is at this same spot.

Originally, there were multiple mills up and down the river through here, but in 1902, a hydroelectric dam was built, but is not in use anymore. According to a photo on the historical marker nearby, this bridge was already here when the dam was built.

At one time, the bridge was used by NCStL, and then by L&N, and then by CSX. Today, the tracks are used by the short line Caney Fork & Western Railroad, which connects CSX from Tullahoma to Manchester and Sparta.

There are a couple of kids sitting on the nearest pier. Can you see them?

Maxwell, TN Passenger Train Depot

Here is a long since forgotten train station!

Tracks first came through the area with the formation of the Winchester & Alabama railroad in the 1850's. They never could get their line finished into Huntsville, AL as they made it to Elora, TN just north of the border and instead made a line to Fayetteville. After W&A went bankrupt, the line was purchased by NCStL who did complete the line to Huntsville.

Much of the land through here was owned by a man named William R. Jones, who sold some of his land to the railroad in the 1860's. The depot that was built here became known as Jones Station. Soon afterward a new stationmaster with the last name of Maxwell came in and from there the stop was known as Maxwell. I can't find any age on the date of the depot seen here.

By the 1980's, the line was owned by Seaboard Systems who decided to stop running the line in 1985. All the tracks through here are gone, leaving this old depot in a seemingly unexpected place.

Tuckers Gap Passenger Depot

Tennessee & Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1866 with the intent of connecting Knoxville to Memphis so that coal from the East Tennessee mountains could be conveyed out to the western U.S. In 1869, consturction began on the first (and as it turned out, the only) segment of the rail line, a 29 mile stretch from Lebanon to Nashville. It began operation in 1871, so this passenegr station was built sometime during those two years.

The depot was built on land owned by John Bell Tarver. His daughter Nancy Tarver Hagan was employed to be the depot's operator. To make money, she would sell poultry, livestock, eggs, flowers, etc. from the depot. According to family stories, when she would hear the train whistle, she'd quickly change into her "good clothes" and run down the hill from her house just in time to meet the approaching train.

By 1877, Tennessee & Pacific ran out of money and the line was purchased by NCStL. The short line operated under the T&P name until 1988 when it was renamed the NCStL Lebanon Branch. The last run was made on July 13, 1935 when passenger service stopped.

The depot sat vacant at the same spot for nearly seven decades when it was put up for auction. In August, 2005 the depot was reloacated to Fiddler's Grove, the collection of historic local buildings on the Wilson County Fairgrounds. One year later after extensive renovations it was dedicated. Today, fairgoers can walk inside and see train memorabilia as well as a model railroad display.

94th Anniversary of the Great Train Wreck of 1918

Dutchman's curve is the location of the deadliest train wreck in U.S. history, and it happened in Nashville. Human error on the NCStL line mistakenly thinking the tracks were clear allowed a train to proceed with another coming in. The two train engineers couldn't see each other as they approached around a curve and crashed into each other at full speed. At the time, it wasn't uncommon for passenger cars to be made of wood, and on impact the cars essentially disintegrated. All told, on the day of July 9, 1918, over 100 people died.

The exact spot the two trains collided is a little difficult to determine, but the wreckage covered a lengthy area. Today, the area is commemorated in a sublte way. As one of the Nashville Greenways, the Metro Board of Parks and Recreation added a Wayside along the Richland Creek Greenway at a location near where the wreckage had been.

The original railroad bed has been replaced with newer tracks that are built higher up. The small memorial is at a spot between bridge masonry abutments along the old line. These predate the Civil War and were built by the nearly forgotten Nashville and Northwestern Railroad. The tracks here used to cross Bosley Road, which is also long gone. A train wheel and a connector is embedded into the concrete here. A metal bar and some other miscellaneuos unsecured pieces were here the day I was. I suppose someone found them and just laid them there.

A few feet from the old Bosley Road Underpass is where the tracks cross Richland Creek. The modern bridge is about 15 feet high. The old pier remains here also. A pedestrian bridge crosses Richland Creek Also, and then it's only a few more feet to the memorial.

NC&StL Diesel engine - Cowan, TN

Located at the Cowan Railroad Museum. It is a 1950 Diesel electric locomotive, built by General Electric as a 44 ton. Donated to the museum as a long-term loan in 2007 after years of use in Huntsville, Al.
Historically, in 1962, this was the first locomotive ever to be equipped with radio control so that an engineer was nor needed in the cab.

NC&StL Train, Centennial Park, Nashville

This is the NC&StL train that has been on display for many years at Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee. This train is here to commemorate the 107 years of service by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway. When I was a child, instead of a protective shed, was surrounded by a chain-link fence, which never seemed to be open when I was there. If it was unlocked, guests could walk up stairs and go inside.

John W. Thomas statue - Centennial Park

A statue was made of him because he helped to found the Centennial Exposition.

Etched on the statue's Base:

John W. Thomas
1830-1906
A Native of Nashville
Forty-eight years in the service
of the Nashville, Chattanooga &
St. Louis Railway;
President for twenty-two years.
President of the
Tennessee Centennial Exposition,
which resulted in securing
to Nashville this park.
A worthy man in all the lines of life,
An efficient man of affairs,
An upright and eminent citizen,
A Christian and a gentleman.
A friend and a brother
This memorial is erected by the employees of the
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway
-1907-



This one is on the northwest side of the statue - or the right side if you are looking at the statue

Cowan, TN Depot (now a Railroad Museum)

The Cowan Depot is wood frame and built in 1904 for the NC&StL railway. When in use, it was originally on the other side of the still-in-use-by-CSX tracks but moved further away to its current location in 1976. It's built in a railroad gothic style architecture and has been repainted to the original green and yellow colors. The building is in the process of renovation. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

I tried to visit the museum twice in 2008. The first time, I got there minutes after it closed for the day (usually at 4pm). The second time, I got there a week after it closed for the season. I'll get to it someday!

cowanrailroadmuseum.org/

Pyramid Gravesite for an Eccentric Man

This Pyramid with 2 sphinx's on guard is the final resting place of Major Eugene C. Lewis. Major Lewis made his money with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad. However, more of his lasting contributions came as being an early director of the Nashville Parks and Recreation Department, and is responsible for a significant amount of what we see today at Centennial Park and Shelby Park, among others. This is at Mt. Olivet Cemetary in Nashville

Hohenwald, TN Train Depot

Hohenwald was settled by German immigrants. The name translates to "High Forest." The original 1896 NC&StL Hohenwald Depot has been restored to its original appearance. As one of the first buildings constructed in the town, the Depot welcomed the new settlers. Later, it witnessed visits from Thomas Edison (coming to the region to find Cobalt) and William Wrigley, as well as served as a work site for German prisoners of war from Rommel’s African Corps during WWII.

This Depot was moved several times over the years but returned to its original location and restored in 1985.

Union Station scheduling chart

Inside the lobby of Nashville's Union Station, behind the front desk, is this chart showing all of the train schedules. It is held over from the days that the station was a thriving train depot. It shows many departures and arivals, North and South, and both companies which serviced the area, L&N and NC&StL. On the marble counter-top are three apples.