AT&N Railroad - Road Trip 2015

Even though I've lived in West AL most of my life, it was only about 18 months ago that I learned about the former AT&N and its route from Reform, AL to Mobile, AL. The AT&N was abandoned before just before my time so I never knew there was a RR down the western edge of AL dispite having traveled up and down this side of the state numerous times. Even though I grew up about 45 miles N of the North end of the AT&N, over the last 18 months, I've developed an interest in the history of the former line and the services it provided to rural extreme Western AL.

Later this month I have to go to Mobile, AL for the first time since learning of the AT&N. My route, AL 17, pretty much parallels the AT&N from Reform south to Tibbie. At Tibbie the AT&N turned southeast toward US 43 where it turned south again down to Mobile.

I took the towns listed in the "AT&N Map" thread and put them into Google maps. I used the pedestrian route feature to get the shortest route via public roads in order to come up with a map that shows something a little closer to the actual AT&N route than the "straight line" map taken from "All Aboard." Unfortunately I am having trouble getting the map image uploaded. I'll try again later.

What's nice about google maps is that by using the satellite imagery, you can actually see the old R.O.W. if you know what to look for and where to look for it. There are several segments of the old roadbed which appear to be public and private roads. Most of them appear to be dead ends. The longest through-segment seems to be Densmore St.; a 5.5 mile segment south of Emelle that comes back out on the highway. I'm going to try to remember to drive down the old AT&N roadbed there.

Another thing I learned since my last trip to Mobile is that Frisco 1527 is sitting down there in a park. I plan to go by there and take a picture. I hope to post pictures when I return.

 

Brandon,

You might also want to give Bing Maps a try and use the "Bird's Eye" feature. I used Google satellite images exclusively until one of my co-workers showed me the Bing Maps Bird's Eye feature. It's so clear you can almost count the shingles on a roof and, in my humble opinion, is better than Google maps for clear imagery.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

The Meteor also reflects this trend with mostly modeling artilces. The next three issues will have the histroy of all three Frisco tunnels in them, and I would like to see others produce historical articles as well. If we continue to loose our history, there will be nothing left to model.

 

Can any member well educated on the AT&N explain what led to its abandonment and could it have survived as a regional carrier?

Joe Toth

 

Mike Lutzenberger, aka qaprr, wrote an excellent synopsis of the history of the AT&N. It may provide some insight to your needs. You'll have conduct a search of this site to locate it.

 

Thanks for the tip. Too bad Mike isn't a member. Sounds like his history belongs in The Meteor!

Like the Frisco itself, the "Anytime At Night" was a great railroad...not as long as its parent, but just as wide!

Item: It dieselized with a fleet of Alco RS-1s as did the Spokane International out in in Washington State. The SI's had chime airhorns from what my late friend from Tampa told me. Wonder what kind of horns the AT&N's had?

Joe Toth

 

Thanks, I shouldda cleaned my glasses. Will see if I can find his synopsis on the site.

Joe Toth

 

From all the old AT&N guys I know The BN smothered it out. First thing that started it was a bridge collapsed and the BN had to get on the Norfolk Southern at Boligee and run across to York and get back on the AT&N to proceed to Mobile. Also there were no customers on the line except pole mills and chip mills, the BN didn't want the business and ran it all off.

The BN got trackage rights on on the Norfolk Southern at Kimbrough and run from Kimbrough to Mobile on the NS. So they had no use for the for the AT&N so they abandoned it. The AT&N Yard in Aliceville we still used for a few years until the GM of the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway ripped it out for scrap.

Also from what I see everyday and all the traffic still coming through and our trains getting put in the hole so NS can run there trains, it would have been wise to keep the line now. Also most of the AT&N ran paralleled the Norfolk Southern and Hwy 43. Norfolk Southern is on one side and AT&N was on the other. There is still about 20 miles of it left from Mobile back to around Axis were the AGR still services some customers.

 

Also if you ride Hwy 43 through Mt Vernon going south there is a spot were the Norfolk Southern almost runs into Hwy 43. In a curve if you look to the left crossing the bridge you can see the old bridge poles that have been cut off. Then coming off of Hwy 43 going South when you get on I-65 you will cross the tracks again. We still use that part of the ole AT&N to switch Arkema and several other industries.

 

Trainrider 44,

Thanks for the additional info on the AT&N!

Of course economic conditions doomed many secondary lines of Class One carriers as well as many branch lines. Though providing little or lack of service forced a lot of industries to seek alternitive transport methods, spelled trucks of course. This usually resulted in higher freight rates. In Florida, Publix had their own pig ramp in Lakeland which received trailers from SCL. The service became so bad that they stopped using SCL and purchased their own fleet of trucks. Not plugging Publix but they do have the cleanest grocery stores and great customer service!

It sounds to me like the AT&N could have possibly continued to exist had it been sold to an interested shortline operator and obtained government funding to replace bridges and improve the track conditions. A lot of track in America is still being operated due to these options including Frisco trackage. These regional and shortline operators have very progressive management teams and have even won back customers lost to the Class Ones due to lack of interest in keeping train service on such track thus depriving many communities of efficent economical freight rates not to mention loss of jobs.

The late great John W. Barriger III proved that when he revitalized the Katy in the mid-60s albeit at the loss of The Texas Special and Northwestern District and BM&E in Oklahoma. Thus we lost a great "home town" passenger train and the grain farmers lost their outlet to the outside world with economical rail service to the trucks. Co-op unit grain trains are cheaper to run than hundreds of trucks plugging the highways and polluting the air.

Joe Toth

 

What bothered me is the guys I have talked to that use to run that line everyday said that they had just put in new ties and ribbon rail the one bridge fell in. It doesn't make since to me other than it was cheaper to run NS Kimbrough to Mobile.

 

My family and I went to Meridian, MS this weekend for a visit. We came back home this afternoon (9-13-15) via York, AL, north through Reform, AL so that I could track down some of the sites of the old AT&N. I have 24 pictures to share so it will take 3 post to get them all uploaded. Here are the first 9:

#1 The site of the AT&N's facilities at York on Hwy 11 S. The site is now home of the AT&N Lumber Services Inc. I'm glad someone had the sense to remember the railroad history of the site and keep "AT&N" in the name of the business.


#2 A view of the AT&N's Hwy. 11 overpass looking east from the drive of AT&N Lumber Services Inc.


#3 Looking north up the old R.O.W. at Alabama Hwy. 17 milepost 146. This is the first crossing of Hwy. 17 north of York.


#4 Another look north up where the AT&N crossed back over Hwy 17 north of Boyd, between hwy. 17 mileposts 149 & 150.


#5 Looking South from the Emelle, AL City Hall... which by the way was built on the old R.O.W.


#6 The historical marker at the Emelle City Hall.


#7 Looking south at the old Park St. crossing at Emelle. Notice the rail still buried in the asphalt.


#8 I couldn't find the old R.O.W. from a public road in Geiger so it was on to Panola, AL. Here's a view looking north from the crossing at Panola, AL.


#9 Looking south from the crossing at Panola.


On to Aliceville in the next post...

 

Dancy and Cochrane are on some of the old AT&N maps that I've seen, but I have no idea where anyone could find a public road crossing at either present-day Dancy or Cochrane. The only identification of Dancy along Hwy 17 is Dancy Baptist Church. There is a small green sign at each end of Cochrane with it's name in white letters. With no way to find the R.O.W. at Dancy or Cochrane, we continued north toward Aliceville.

Here are the next 8 pictures:

10. Here's another look north up the old R.O.W. This one was taken just south of Aliceville from the site of what was a WWII P.O.W. camp. Aliceville was chosen as the location for the P.O.W. camp because it met the 3 requirements for a U.S., P.O.W. camp: 1. Electricity, 2. A railroad for bringing in P.O.W.'s (Aliceville actually had 2 - The AT&N and the Frisco), & 3rd - Aliceville was (and still is) rural... very RURAL.


11. A look south from the old P.O.W. camp site.


12. Ballast still visible at the old P.O.W. camp site.


13. Here's a historical marker across from the P.O.W. camp museum in downtown Aliceville. The marker sits along the old R.O.W. which was used to re-route Hwy 17 to a new overpass over the Pensacola Sub. I'm not sure when the new highway route was built on the old AT&N R.O.W., but I definitely remember when the hwy was still routed about 1 or 2 blocks to the north back in the late 80's or early 90's.


14. The historical marker at the old Hwy 86 crossing at Carrollton, AL.


15. A look south from the old Hwy 86 crossing at Carrollton, AL.


16. A look north from the old Hwy 86 crossing at Carrollton, AL. Wow! Obviously maintaining a level grade wasn't too important to the AT&N or to the Frisco for that matter... at least not on their Reform Branch.


17. The street signs at the intersection of Hwy 86 and AT&N Railroad St. in Carrollton, AL.

 

The last stop was the end of the line of course at Reform, AL. Here are the last 7 pictures.

18. Just off the north bound side of the road near the old Hwy 17 crossing on the south end of town, looking south, lie some old railroad ties in the weeds.


19. Just a few feet south of the ties, and just inside the edge of the woods, lies what was probably the most northern bridge on the line. In the winter, it's much more visible. Look close and you can see the edge of the bridge.


20. Looking north, here we are at the wye, still buried in 3rd St. SW


21. The right/east bound leg of the wye.


22. The left/west bound leg of the wye.


23. The low angle of the sun really put a damper on all the shots of the old Reform depot that I took today. It's in sad, sad shape.


24. Before leaving Reform, it was time for a pit stop. We stopped at Jack's (restaurant) where there is a nice, framed drawing of the old depot. I'm not sure if the depot was ever red, but regardless, I was glad to see that someone else understands the depot's historical importance.