Category: Mystery Location
Here we find ourselves at a more familiar location than in the last picture we used from Georgia. This area is known more for the natural mineral springs and baseball than anything else. At least that’s what I’ve heard. If you are pictured here, don’t even send me an answer, you’re disqualified. But my, how the years work on those ties. I bet most of them have been replaced. If you know the place, get some extra credit and tell me which way we are looking. If you can name all those pictured, maybe the chapter member on the far right will buy you a Coke.
Well, a couple of folks got close to our mystery location in the February 2013 Pennyrail. The “exact” location, is Emerson, Georgia, on the former Western & Atlantic mainline, just South of Cartersville, Georgia. What you don’t see in this photo is the long steel and concrete bridge which now carries the main and siding over interstate 75. If those B units are NC& StL, I’d guess this shot taken before or right after the NC&StL/L&N merger of 1957. The NC&StL reached Atlanta via the state-owned W&A. This segment is also where the Great Locomotive chase (The General and The Texas) occurred during the Civil War. The chase began just a few miles south of this point, in Kennesaw (Big Shanty), Georgia. As for the kudzu, most of us from the deep south have learned to live with the invasive vine. It does produce lovely purple blooms, but it can take over a few acres in a short period of time.
This busy route out of the town one time known as “Terminus” connects the southern city with points north. The line has a rich civil war history and has been known to host a race between locomotives. Although these rails have hosted several company names, the actual ownership has remained stately. Yes, that is Kudzu in mid-winter gray. You must guess the precise community location for this one.
If you think you know the location (city and state) of our mystery photo, send your answer to me via email: bill@fbcmadisonville.com, or mail to Bill Thomas, 1025 Lakewood Dr., Madisonville, KY 42431. Correct responses will be placed in a pool drawing in December for a small but meaningful prize. Notoriety will also be included.
If you think you know the location (city and state) of our mystery photo, send your answer to me via email: bill@fbcmadisonville.com, or mail to Bill Thomas, 1025 Lakewood Dr., Madisonville, KY 42431. Correct responses will be placed in a pool drawing in December for a small but meaningful prize. Notoriety will also be included.
There were no correct responses to last month’s Mystery Location submitted by Matt Gentry. The location was Tehachapi, California.
Several members nailed the September location as looking east at Nortonville, KY, on the KY Division of the IC crossing the L&N. Ricky Bivins, Bob McCracken, Chuck Hinrichs, and Bill Grady get the notoriety this month.
We will make this one easy since we are just beginning this series. This location is well-known to locals living in the area of the two competing lines which both served the area with brisk passenger trains and many coal drags. Unfortunately one of these tracks was torn up partially due to duplication of the route in the early 20th century. Fred Ripley was the first to guess correctly in last month’s mystery spot. Remington, IN, on the former TP&W. The lift facility was built in the early 80s in hopes of expanding intermodal traffic but that never developed. The AT&SF absorbed then sold it off.
If you think you know the location (city and state) of our mystery photo, send your answer to me via email: bill@fbcmadisonville.com, or mail to Bill Thomas, 1025 Lakewood Dr., Madisonville, KY 42431. Correct responses will be placed in a pool drawing in December for a small but meaningful prize. Notoriety will also be included.