Maury County TN Archives History - Books .....Railroads 1906 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 23, 2005, 12:43 am Book Title: Century Review Railroads. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. was the pioneer in this State, and holds its general offices at Nashville, from whence it operates about 1,200 miles of road. It is an important system, connecting the Northwest with the Southeast. The Columbia branch of the N., C. & St. L. connects with the L. & N. at this point and with its main line at Decherd. A. H. Shields, frt. agt. at Columbia for both roads, was born at Lynnville, 1856, and served as operator for five years prior to coming here in 77. Mc.W. Orr is ticket agt. and opr. The L. & N. The Tennessee & Alabama Ry. was built from Nashville to Thompson's Sta., 1859, and in 60 through Maury Co. on to Decatur. This became a part of the L. & N. and Great Southern trunk line system in 72. From Columbia to Decatur is 75 miles; Decatur to Birmingham, 86; and 96 additional to Montgomery. The Tuscumbia branch, a very important feeder to Maury Co. interests, was completed in 1895. This taps the Tennessee River at Sheffield, 84 miles southwest from Columbia, giving connections to Mt. Pleasant ( celebrated for its phosphate mines) several times daily. The Mt. Pleasant road was built in 1860, but abandoned in war time, much of the track having been torn up to repair other roads. The L. & N. system comprises 4,028 miles of road. It has 501 passenger coaches, 626 locomotives, 30,905 freight cars, and the gross earnings for 1904 reached over $30,000,000. Mt. Pleasant Southern Railroad. This was organized in 1900; capital stock, $40,000; built and operates five miles of road - Ridley to Scott's Mills - connecting with the N., F. & S. at Ridley. Two miles is standard and three miles narrow gauge. J. W. Fry, of Columbia, president. New Electric. While steam railroads still hold the sway for freight, electric lines are rapidly increasing their prestige for local passenger travel, and, with less than. 20 years of growth, command a very important position. The franchises of the Columbia & Nashville, Nashville and Gallatin lines were purchased, in Jan., 1905,. by Nat. Baxter, J. T. Landis, W. J. Whitthorne, Joseph Frank, Hilary Howse, J. A. Pitts, and Maj. E. B. Stahlman, all leading capitalists of Nashville. Since the company was formed, a method of operating interurban railways has been, invented, admirably adapted to interurban lines and superior to methods previously employed - the application of the gasoline motor to railroad transportation. The company has been negotiating for the privilege of employing this newly devised means, and has about completed all arrangements for a speedy completion of this enterprise, which means much for Columbia. The Southern Express was started as a military necessity in Civil War time, and has since continued to extend its lines until it reaches most of the South. It occupies the Bethell House corner. C. B. Thayer, manager, was born in Georgia, and came from Nashville to Columbia in Jan., 1905, to take charge here. Additional Comments: From: CENTURY REVIEW 1805 - 1905 MAURY COUNTY, TENNESSEE A Condensation of the Most Important Events of the Past One Hundred Years, and Descriptive Sketches of the Cities and Villages File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/maury/history/1906/centuryr/railroad20gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/tnfiles/ File size: 3.8 Kb