Western and Atlantic Railroad

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atlanta – Chattanooga
Western and Atlantic Railroad
Western and Atlantic Railroad route
course
Route length: 220 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class : FRA Class III
Top speed: 60 mph / 96.54 km / h
Route - straight ahead
to Augusta ( CSX , formerly GeorgiaRailroad )
Station, station
0 AtlantaUnionStation
Gleisdreieck - straight ahead, to the left, from the left
toEastPoint ( NS / CSX )
Gleisdreieck - straight ahead, to the right, from the right
to Spartanburg ( NS / Amtrak , formerly SouthernRailway )
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
HowellJunction
Gleisdreieck - straight ahead, to the right, from the right
to Birmingham and Wilmington ( CSX , formerly SAL )
Station without passenger traffic
TilfordYard
   
ChattahoocheeRiver
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Bolton
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Gilstrap
   
Gilmore
   
Vinings
   
Brookmont
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Smyrna
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Lockair formerly Rosewood
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
32 Marietta
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Elizabeth
   
NorthElizabeth to McCaysville ( GNRR , formerly MNGR )
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Day earlierNoonday
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
45 Kennesaw formerly BigShanty
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Moon
   
Lena
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
56 Acworth siding
   
Hugo
   
64 Allatoona
   
Bartow
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
72 Emerson siding
   
byCooperFurnace ( EtowahRailway )
   
McGuires Cross
   
Etowah
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
76 Cartersville
   
Junta to Rockmart ( CSX , formerly SAL ) / Knoxville ( CSX , formerly IB and L&N )
   
Atco
Gleisdreieck - straight ahead, to the left, from the left
BowenWye to Ladds ( CSX )
   
Rodgers to Wyvern ( IB )
   
84 Cass
   
Conosene
   
Bests
   
Cave
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
95 Kingston siding
   
to Rome ( NC & StL )
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
Halls siding
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
109 Adairsville siding
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
McDaniels siding
   
127 Calhoun
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
135 Resaca siding
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
142 Tildale
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
145 Tilton siding
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
159 Dalton siding
crossing
Hair to Rome and Knoxville ( NS , formerly SouthernRailway )
   
RockyFace
tunnel
ChetoogetaMountainTunnel
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
172 TunnelHill siding
   
177 Copeland
   
Greenwood
   
Catoosa
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
185 Ring gold
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
195 Graysville siding
border
Georgia / Tennessee
Plan-free intersection - below
TennesseeValleyRailroadMuseum , formerly SouthernRailway
   
Link to the NorfolkSouthernRailway , formerly SouthernRailway
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
SouthBoyce
Blockstelle, Awanst, Anst etc.
NorthBoyce
   
CTTower NorfolkSouthernRailway , formerly SouthernRailway
End station - end of the line
220 ChattanoogaTerminalStation

The Atlanta – Chattanooga in the states of Georgia and Tennessee in the United States is known as the Western and Atlantic Railroad . The route now operated by CSX Transportation is known for the Andrews Raid that took place in 1862.

history

construction

In order to improve the economic situation of Georgia, the responsible politicians tried to create better transport conditions in the country. The construction of a canal between the Tennessee River and the Chattahoochee River failed in 1826 due to the unfavorable topographical conditions and finally became obsolete with the advent of the railroad from the 1830s. Thus the construction of a railway line between the two rivers was up for debate.

After the Cherokee were driven from the north of the state, construction of a railway line could begin. On December 21, 1836, the Georgia Parliament decided to build a railway line from a point on the Tennessee River near the city of Chattanooga to the Chattahoochee River at state expense under the name Western & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia .

Chief engineer Stephen Harriman Long chose Hardy Ivy’s farm on the Chattahoochee River as the starting point for construction . Construction work began slowly. In the autumn of 1838 work was carried out on around 80 kilometers of track. In 1841, construction work came to a largely standstill. In addition, Long switched to the US surveying service. At this time, the former governor Wilson Lumpkin took over the management of the railway construction and commissioned Charles Fenton Mercer Garnett with the engineering work. In the meantime the Georgia Railroad built from the east and the Monroe Railroad from the south towards the Chattahoochee River. In order to have a better common starting point, the starting point was moved further to the southeast. The Terminus settlement, later Marthasville, now Atlanta, was built at this endpoint .

On December 25, 1842, the first locomotive drove on the route that was completed up to the Etowah River . In the following years the line was built further north. In 1847 Cross Keys, now Dalton , was reached. With the commissioning of the tunnel by Chetoogeta Mountain on May 9, 1850, the 220 kilometer long railway line with a gauge of 1524 mm (5 feet) was completed. The route had large radii and very little gradients.

When completed, Georgia put the railroad up for sale for around $ 1 million. That didn't even cover the construction costs. The last loans to finance the construction were repaid in 1946.

In operation from 1850–1870

Locomotive No. 3 of the W&A THE GENERAL

Since no buyer was found for the route, the state operated the route itself. The expectations of the railroad were fulfilled and the economy in northern Georgia began to flourish. In 1860, Western & Atlantic generated 50% of Georgia's revenue. With the beginning of the American Civil War , the railroad came into the attention of the warring troops.

On April 12, 1862 Union soldiers led by James J. Andrews kidnapped a Western & Atlantic train with the locomotive THE GENERAL . The event known as the Andrews Raid later became the basis for the film The General by Buster Keaton. During the Atlanta campaign , William T. Sherman followed the W&A route to ensure the supply of his own troops and the tracking of reserve troops. In the course of the fighting, the route and the structural and engineering structures were destroyed in many ways. After the end of the fighting, the administration of the route was taken over by the United States Military Railroad , which also restored the destroyed route. After the end of the war, the administration returned to the hands of the state.

The two locomotives THE GENERAL (in Kennesaw ) and TEXAS (in Atlanta) have been preserved in a museum from this period .

lease

From October 24, 1870, the railway line and the operating materials were leased by a consortium of 23 investors. Among them were the former governor Joseph E. Brown and executives of the railroad companies connecting in Atlanta and Chattanooga. The contract had a term of 20 years and was endowed with a lease payment of 25,000 dollars per month. On May 1, 1886, the railway line was converted to standard gauge.

Locomotive No. 8029 of the CSX Transportation at Tunnel Hill

Starting December 27, 1890, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway leased the Western & Atlantic for 29 years. The company had offered a lease of $ 35,001 a month. The losing bidder was the Richmond and Danville Railroad with an offer of $ 35,000 / month. On February 6, 1917, the lease was extended for another 50 years to December 27, 1969 at a lease price of $ 45,000. In addition, at least $ 60,000 had to be invested annually. After the complete takeover of NC & StL by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1957, the latter entered into the lease agreement. The L&N and Southern Railway (SR) competed for the new lease from 1969 . The SR's offer was recommended for acceptance by the relevant committee, but was rejected by the Georgia Parliament. In the subsequent review process, no further offer was made by Southern Railway. Thus, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad won the lease of $ 1 million per year plus an annual increase of 2.5%. This contract was valid until 1994. In addition, the L&N transferred the locomotive THE GENERAL in their possession to Georgia.

With the merger of L&N into the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982 and the formation of CSX Transportation in 1987, this leaseholder of the route. The company began new lease negotiations as early as 1986 and achieved an extension to December 31, 2019. The lease price was now $ 4,293,000 in the first year and an annual increase of 2.5%. The contract also includes the maintenance of the route at least at Class III level (40 mph / 64.4 km / h in freight traffic) according to the regulations of the Federal Railroad Administration and the investment of at least 12.5 million dollars.

Route

The route begins at Atlanta Union Station . After the connection of the Norfolk-Southern route to Spartanburg and the CSX route from Wilmington to Birmingham , the marshalling yard Tilford Yard is reached. The round locomotive sheds for the locomotives used on the railroad were also located here.

Then the Chattahoochee River is crossed on a bridge. During the entire route, the engineers paid attention to the lowest possible inclines. The route leads from the river valley in large radii to the northwest. With the creation of Allatoona Lake in the 1950s, the route was changed in this area.

Northeast of Cartersville , the CSX route from Rockmart to Knoxville is crossed. After Kingston , the route branches off in a northbound direction to reach the valley of Oothkalooga Creek . The route continues to the valley of the Oostanaula River . After crossing this river valley, the route then follows the valley of the Conasauga River further north . After crossing a pass at Tilton , Dalton is reached. The Western & Atlantic route and the Norfolk Southern route from Rome to Knoxville run parallel through this town . Only at the northern end of the village do the two routes cross and the W&A route turns to the northwest.

With the crossing of the Mill Creek Gap the Rocky Face Mountain are overcome. Then the route continues in the valley of North Fork Mill Creek . The Hill Ridge Tunnel is crossed under the Chetoogeta Mountain Tunnel . The original tunnel was replaced in 1926–1928 by a tunnel 12 kilometers further north. The new tunnel was necessary to allow a larger clearance profile on the route. The new tunnel was financed by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway and leased to the Western and Atlantic Railroad.

The route then swings into the valley of East Chickamauga Creek . The railway follows this and the South Chickamauga Creek as far as the topographical conditions in the river valleys allow to Chattanooga.

business

Thanks to the operational Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, all important locomotive types were used on the route. In the 1930s and 1940s, locomotives with the 2'D2 'wheel arrangement of classes J2 and J3 were used . After the end of the Second World War, the increased use of diesel locomotives of the EMD E3 series began . With the takeover of NC & StL by Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the conversion to diesel traction was also completed.

The high volume of traffic on the route led to the construction of at least one crossing-free road crossing in every village along the route. To increase the line capacity, second tracks were built or lengthened in many sections. Priority freight trains require a travel time of around 4 hours for the entire route.

All trains on the route have an Automatic Train Control. The central dispatcher is from the CSX headquarters in Jacksonville (Florida).

Passenger traffic was carried out on the route from the opening of operations to April 30, 1970. The route was used by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad's Dixie Flyer luxury train, among others . No passenger train service has been offered on the route since Amtrak started operations.

literature

  • Frank Kyper: In the tracks of the General . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha June 1993, p. 33-41 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ AC Kalmbach: Odds and Ends . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., August 1946, p. 8 .
  2. schafluetzel.org: Western & Atlantic Railroad
  3. David P. Morgan: Editorial . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., May 1965, p. 3 .