South

In the history of the steam locomotive Roanoke Machine Works played a key part. Take a look at this important economic center of the New South.

Roanoke Shops has been an indispensable part of the Roanoke Valley and the Magic City for more than 125 years. Founded in 1881 as an independent company, Roanoke Machine Works built new locomotives and cars for the Shenandoah Valley and Norfolk & Western Railroads. Situated between the picturesque Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains, the facility caused an economic boom in the nearby village of Big Lick and the surrounding area. By 1891, Big Lick had become Roanoke and had emerged as one of the most important economic centers in the New South. Today, Roanoke Shops employs skilled craftsmen who provide the highest-quality overhauls and repairs to diesel locomotives. This book takes a look into its history, particularly at production during that exciting and enchanting era of the steam locomotive.

The State of Georgia chartered the Western & Atlantic Railroad in 1836. The railroad aided in the development and growth of many communities between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In constructing the railroad, workers created a winding route that cut its way across the North Georgia landscape. During the Civil War, both armies used this vital artery, and it was the setting for one of the war's most iconic events, the Great Locomotive Chase. The state still owns the Western & Atlantic and has leased it since 1870. The line remains an essential part of North Georgia and is a backbone of the region's industry. As Atlanta ponders its transportation future, it is important to remember that without the Western & Atlantic, Atlanta would not be the city it is today.

Todd DeFeo has studied railroads since growing up alongside the Northeast Corridor line in New Jersey. He is editor of Railfanning.org and founder of The DeFeo Groupe. Today, he lives near the historic Western & Atlantic. The images that help make up the visual history in this book come from the many libraries and museums dedicated to preserving the Western & Atlantic’s history, the archives of Railfanning.org, and the author’s collection.

Go inside the transition from steam to diesel, the pinnacle of rail travel and the development of the South through much of the 20th century.

The Southern Railway was the pinnacle of rail service in the South for nearly 100 years. Its roots stretch back to 1827, when the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company was founded in Charleston to provide freight transportation and America's first regularly scheduled passenger service. Through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Great Depression, rail lines throughout the South continued to merge, connecting Washington, D.C. to Atlanta and Charleston to Memphis. The Southern Railway was born in 1893 at the height of these mergers. It came to an end in 1982, merging with Norfolk and Western Railway to become Norfolk Southern Railway. The history of the railway lives on, however, and Norfolk Southern continues to "serve the South."

In 2003, the Southern Railway Historical Association selected the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History as the repository for its extensive archives. Included in this collection are hundreds of professional quality, black-and-white photographs taken by company photographers throughout the railway's history. While a few of these images have been seen by the public, the vast majority have not.

Through the  images and stories of the people who built it, discover the fascinating history of a railway established to fuel the nations' appetite for coal and that grew into so much more.

For a century, the Norfolk and Western Railway operated as one of the greatest transportation companies in the southeastern United States. From developing the coal fields of West Virginia to accommodating passengers aboard its famous Powhaten Arrow and Pocahontas lines, the N&W was the last major railroad to abandon the steam engine. The story of the N&W is a story about people-a story of the tens of thousands of people who worked in the shops and aboard the trains, sold the tickets and moved the freight, laid the track and managed corporate affairs. Images of Rail: Norfolk and Western Railway celebrates that heritage through the lens of some 200 archival photographs.

From images of the muscular Class J steam locomotive to the lone agent of the rural depot, these photographs have been harvested from the N&W's files at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The archival material provides the reader the rare opportunity to rummage through the N&W's attic. See the engine crews at the turn of the last century, the shop gangs, freight agents, roundhouses, stations, and iron horses of a bygone age. With views of the rugged and, at times, dangerous days of railroading in the late 1800s to the rise of the N&W as a member of America's corporate elite, these pictures convey the railway's storied history.

Discover the contribution and history of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad through pictures from the earliest days of building and development.

The Alexandria, Loudoun & Hampshire Railroad laid track from Alexandria through Fairfax County and into Loudoun County towards the coalfields of West Virginia. In 1900, the Southern Railway, which had taken over the line, extended the railroad into Bluemont on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Washington & Old Dominion Railway leased the Southern Railway's line in 1912, went into receivership in 1932, and was reorganized into the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad in 1935. The employees excavated the roadbed by hand, built stations and electric locomotives, reconfigured passenger cars, replaced diesel motors, and rebuilt bridges. Eventually, public roads and a lack of shipping and receiving industries forced the railroad into abandonment. Through old photographs, Washington & Old Dominion Railroad explores the efforts that went into building, operating, and maintaining the railroad whose right-of-way has now become the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority's Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park.

Since the opening of the first permanent railway in 1833, hundreds of railroad companies have operated in North Carolina.

Rail transportation, faster and more efficient than other methods of the era, opened new markets for the products of North Carolina's farms, factories, and mines. Over the years, North Carolina rail companies have ranged in size from well-engineered giants like the Southern Railway to temporary logging railroads like the Hemlock. Cross ties and rails were laid across almost every conceivable terrain: tidal marshes, sand hills, rolling piedmont, and mountain grades. Vulnerable to the turbulent and unregulated economies of the day, few railroad companies escaped reorganizations and receiverships during their corporate lives, often leaving tangled and contradictory histories in their passing.

Long before Glenn Miller made the world-famous ""Chattanooga Choo Choo"" an American icon, Chattanooga was already a bustling railroad community.

By the beginning of the 20th century, passenger trains overwhelmed Chattanooga's two railroad depots and a larger station was needed. The solution was Terminal Station, which rivaled most Southern depots in size, expense, and aesthetic beauty. Providing transportation to cities throughout the country, the terminal made its mark as the gateway for rail from the agricultural south to the industrial north. Following its closure, the terminal was reopened as a renowned hotel and entertainment complex in 1973, becoming one of Chattanooga's many exciting attractions. Images of Rail: Chattanooga's Terminal Station follows the history of this depot in both stories and photographs.

Explore the geography of Rosslyn, Great Falls, Leesburg and Purcelville along the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad.

Washington & Old Dominion Railroad covered the railroad's corporate history, construction, and operation. The images within offer a look at the railroad's feed and grain business, railfan-type views of equipment and a visual record of methods used to maintain the right-of-way and place equipment back on the tracks. Additionally, this work offers a history of the conversion of the right-of-way into thevery popular Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park.

Learn about the history of mills and their place in the local economy. See how the Burro crane was a jack of all trades. Look under the hood and inside the cab to imagine what it was like to be an engineer on one of the railroad's Baldwin-Westinghouse electric freight locomotives.