Most of my memories of the Hook & Eye revolve around Ellijay, Georgia, a small hamlet on the Coosawattee River valley, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, in Gilmer County. The Coosawattee begins in Ellijay, formed but the merging of the Cartecay and Ellijay rivers behind my uncle Bob’s office of Thomas Oil. The L&N reached Ellijay and points north via their branch line beginning at Elizabeth (Marietta), GA, Cobb County. It was a winding and hilly route which ultimately was it’s undoing with the new line located a few miles to the west following US hwy 411 from Cartersville, GA, to Knoxville, TN.

My earliest memories stem from short stops my mother would make for me if we happened to catch the northbound afternoon freight coming across Hwy 52, in East Ellijay. Back then there were a couple of industries to switch: West Pulpwood, and LP gas storage facility, Garland Lumber, and a team track with a conveyor unloader under the track for sand, coal, gravel, etc. I’ve been told there was once an oil transfer station north of the depot where oil from tankers were emptied by gravity to trucks on a lower level road. I remember F units and early GPs, all 4 axle due to the weight and curve restrictions on the line. In my teen years, after CSX took over, trains ran only as needed from the south (Tate), and often arrived in the middle of the night. I occasionally made it to the depot to watch the night switching and the turnaround maneuvers needed to get the train headed back south. Next month, I’ll talk about those specific moves and sitting aboard the caboose while the front end crew handled the switching.

Thanks for the memories! Bill Thomas