This year's convention is a celebration o fChattanooga's railway heritage. After the Civil War, industrial development made Chattanooga “The Dynamo of Dixie.” In the height of railroad activities in the 1920s, Chattanooga was served by nine railroads, one electric interurban line and a trolley line. Chattanooga is a city with a fantastic railroad heritage. The first railroad into the Tennessee River Valley came from the south, the Western and Atlantic Railroad, built and owned by the State of Georgia. The first train arrived in Chattanooga on December 1, 1849 and regular service commenced the following year. The first railroad station was built at the corner of Ninth and Market streets. Soon this facility was outgrown and a Car Shed was built one block west at Ninth and Broad streets. The cost of this passenger station was shared by the Western and Atlantic, the Nashville and Chattanooga and Memphis and Charleston railroads. A fourth line, East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, used it after a branch was built to the city. The Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad began operation between the two cities on November 11, 1854.

In 1858, the N & C signed a contract with the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to connect at Stevenson, Alabama and operate into Chattanooga, an arrangement which still continues today between CSX and NS. Chattanooga’s strategic location with so many railroad lines made it a potential target for Union forces during the Civil War. The most notable was the Andrews Raid of April, 1862, when a Union spy, James Andrews, with a small Union force, stole the locomotive “General” at Big Shanty, Ga. Confederate forces on the locomotive “Texas” pursued along the Western & Atlantic line, and captured the thieves. This event has been immortalized and became known as the “Great Locomotive Chase” or “The General” in book and film versions. In 1882, the Western and Atlantic Railroad was leased to the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. This lease has been continued by its successor owners, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and CSX Transportation. During the railroad building boom era from 1836 to 1860, other railroads were built into the southeastern Tennessee region. These new lines would make Chattanooga a junction point and thus a target by Northern forces. The East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad was chartered in July of 1836 to build a line from Knoxville to connect with the Western and Atlantic Railroad in Georgia. The line bypassed Chattanooga on purpose as the company officials felt Chattanooga would never be more than a river town. In 1859 a branch was completed from Cleveland to Chattanooga. The East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad merged with the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad Photo courtesy David Hayes Southern Railway’s #4501, a Mikado, was used in freight service and then the steam powered excursions on Southern and Norfolk Southern railroads. It is now stored at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga.creating the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad (ETV&G). This line acquired the lease of the Memphis and Charleston.

In 1881, the Memphis and Charleston was absorbed by the ETV&G. This resulted in the construction of a second downtown railroad station because of traffic flow. The Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad’s freight depot on Market Street was renovated and opened in 1888 as Central Passenger Depot. It was used by those two railroads and the Cincinnati Southern. The Cincinnati Southern Railway, whose right-of-way is owned by the Ohio city, was completed between Cincinnati and Chattanooga in 1880 over a 336 mile route which featured 27 tunnels, and 105 bridges. The next year it was leased to the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Company (CNO&TP). Combined with the Alabama Great Southern Railway (AGS), it became known as the Queen and Crescent Route linking Cincinnati and New Orleans. Both railroads were eventually taken over by the Southern Railway System. The Central of Georgia line from Griffin, Georgia, reached Chattanooga in 1888. It was acquired by Southern Railway in 1969. Portions of the line were abandoned to eliminate duplicate routes with the AGS and TAG. Today the line between Chattanooga and Summersville, Georgia is operated by the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railroad and hosts excursions by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. The last railroad in the area was built from Chattanooga, instead of to Chattanooga. In an effort to become the steel center of the South, a rail line was needed to access the iron ore deposits near Gadsden, Alabama. Construction on the Chattanooga Southern was begun in 1887 and completed in 1891. In 1911, the line was reorganized and named the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railroad (TAG). This 91 mile line was purchased by Southern Railway in 1972 and the mid portion was abandoned around 1980. A portion of it from Chattanooga to Hedge, Ga. is still in existence.There are approximately 720 participants in this year's convention in Chattanooga, Today Chattanooga is served by two Class 1 Railroads, Norfolk Southern (former Southern Railway lines) and CSX (former Louisville & Nashville– nee Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad). NS lines from Birmingham, Memphis, Knoxville and Atlanta enter from all directions. CSX lines from Nashville and Atlanta enter from the southwest and south. Other railroads which served Chattanooga included the Central of Georgia and the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia railroads. Today, a local short line, Chattanooga and Chickamauga Railroad (CCKY) operates the former Central of Georgia line to Summerville, GA and the former Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railroad (TAG) to Hedge, Ga. The main CSX yard is Wauhatchie and the main NS yard is DeButts. Passenger trains of the L&N (N.C.& St.L) and TAG used Union Depot while the passenger trains of Southern Railway and Central of Georgia used Terminal Station. The last scheduled passenger train to serve Chattanooga was the L&N’s Georgian which operated between St. Louis and Atlanta until the formation of Amtrak in May 1971.

Today's major activity was the Blue Ridge Scenic, a trip operated by the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad between Blue Ridge and Tate which was a rare mileage collectors as it covered some trackage rarely offered to the public after passenger service was discontinued in 1949 except for a few special trains in the 1960s.

Our busses left the hotel at 7:45 for a return to the location that was the end of yesterday's railroad ramble, Blue Ridge. After about a two hour ride in our deluxe motor coaches, the busses pulled into Blue Ridge, we boarded the train, and headed for Tate, GA, a distance of 41 miles.

This line was constructed by the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad in 1887 and completed to Murphy, NC two years later. The line was built because of the immense deposits of marble located along its route. It was planned to extend the line to Atlanta and Knoxville, neither of which happened.

The gap connecting this line to an interchange with the Knoxville Southern Railroad at Copperhill was completed in 1890. Copperhill was known as McCays, and the Tennessee Copper Co. mined and smelted copper. This process, and cutting down of nearby forests, quickly gave the area a desolate, moonscape appearance. Blue Ridge is headquarters of the tourist line. The train proceeded through Ellijay, named for a Cherokee village, and around the “Hook” or the 15 degree double reverse curve between Whitestone and Talking Rock. This was straightened by the L&N several years ago.

The train continued through Jasper and will terminated at Tate, the center of a large scale marble mining operation. A box lunch was included.

Both photo runbys went well, and the train operated on-time. It was very hot outside, and a couple of the cars werre a bit warm, but everyone had access to air conditioning if they needed so there were no major problems.

Upon arrival in Tate, we boarded our busses for the return to the Choo-Choo is 7:00 p.m. Photo Courtesy of Blue Ridge Scenic A Georgia Northeastern GP-20 leads a Blue Ridge Scenic excursion.

 

Photo runby at Whitestone, GA - Photo by Steve Barry.

Other activities available for the day included non-rail events. There was a WWII Duck Boat tour of Chattanooga as well as a tour of the Chattanooga Aquarium. This tour went far off the beaten path, and even off the pavement! We start by boarding “Ducks” - ex-military amphibious vehicles, originally made to land troops on beaches in WWII - took conventioneers on a guided tour from the Choo Choo, through the vibrant Chattanooga downtown, then out onto the Tennessee River! Chugging past the Tennessee Aquarium, fine views of its two spectacular glass-peaked buildings, and of other riverfront attractions (the Cherokee-themed, commemorative “Passage”, where water cascades down flights of steps and knee-deep pools, is a fine place for families to splash about on hot summer days). Passengers disembarked at the Tennessee Aquarium, where after check-in, we enjoyed day-long admission, free to come and go as you we liked. Lunch was available at several nearby eateries offer everything from loaded cheeseburgers to sushi to upscale, regionally-based fine dining.

For dinner, there were lots of options again. I chose the Station House Bar in the "Choo-Choo." There is live entertainment (the wait staff doubles as singers - country, pop, rock, etc) and enjoyed a pork chop, salad bar, and fries along with my webmaster staple Coca-Cola. The picture at the right shows one of the singers who doubled as a hostess.

After dinner there were a host of options for activities. At-large members of the NRHS (individuals not affiliated directly with a Chapter) held their annual meeting. And everyone had a chance to meet the National NRHS Officers and Staff in the annual "Meet the Officers" function. And Mitch Dakelman once again put on an outstanding film review of several historic films.

 

 

 

 

 

But for me, tonight is one of the most interesting events of the convention, the Night Photo Session (which was also held Tuesday Night). Tonight's venue was the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum(TVRM - (a former Southern Railway Facility til 1959) and our host was Mr. Steve Barry of Railfan & Railroad Magazine. Steve and his crew, including Alex Mayes and several folks from the TVRM did an outstanding job. This year there were four setups - Steam locomotive No. 610 by the station, No. 610 by a caboose, steam locomotive No. 4501 on a turntable head-to-head with a No. 610 and a diesel, and No. 4501 by itself on the turntable. The session started at 9PM with a bus ride to the museum. It even included a short-train ride from one end of the property to the other, in a "Jim Crow" car no less. [Jim cars were used on some southern railways to separate "Whites from Colored" until the Civil Rights movement eventually eliminated the practice. In this car (shown at the right) one end is for "Colored" and the other for "Whites Only." You can see the word "Colored" in the bulkhead of the car.

Here's how a night photo session works. Lights called lumadynes (big flash bulbs) are used to luminate different parts of a scene while the camera shutter is open on a long-time exposure. Sometimes headlights are turned on and off for a few seconds and whistles are blown to "burn them into" the picture. Sometimes the exposure lasts for several minutes. This is for people who really get into photography. You can see the difference in the pictures below. Because my digital camera does not have a manual mode there is a definite "direction" for the light on the subject. In a time exposure you get an even lighting across the subject as if you were seeing it in its natural setting. One of the coolest things about night photography, made famous by O. Winston Link, is that you can actually walk right through the scene while the shutter is open without showing up in the print/film (because of the time exposure). Each scene gets multiple "takes" so that you have multiple chances to get a good picture.

The session broke up about 1AM.

 

All photos by J. Lilly unless otherwise noted.