Rail Stations and Ports in the SE U.S.

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

I’m the president of APE Games, a board and card game company. Our current project is a game about establishing rail and shipping routes and moving freight on those routes in the SE U.S. during the period between 1870 and 1900.

I’m looking the cover of the game to contain a location that contained both a port and a rail station during this period. Can anyone help me out?

2

Baltimore…Charleston…Savannah…three main ones that come to my mind. Then jump over to Mobile and New Orleans

3

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. Can you (or any reader) point me to an image of any of these ports/stations during that period (late 1800’s)? I’ve Google image searched for images depicting these ports along with a rail station. Maybe there is no such thing, but I’d like to use something as a starting point for the artist.

4

Don’t forget Boston.

5

Add Louisville, Memphis, Norfolk, Richmond, Hampton Roads area, Pensacola.

6

This is great stuff - thanks for all the suggestions. Keep them coming! Can anyone recommend a book or a particular issue of ClassicTrains that has an image of a port with a rail station at it? Or better yet an image on the internet?

7

Oliver Jensen’s American Heritage History of American Railroads from the late '70s is a great book to start with; I don’t believe there has been as comprehensive and as accurate a book since that one. Then find histories of southeast railroads like Southern, Norfolk and Western, Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard, Baltimore and Ohio, Western Maryland, Central of Georgia, Gulf, Mobile,and Ohio. Then of course any books on the histories of any of these cities mentioned. I believe Baltimore would be considered the first (from the north) harbor in the south, then proceed south from there.

8

Here’s something a little different for you to think about - Silver Springs, Florida.

In the late 1800s-early 1900s, Silver Springs was already becoming one of Florida’s main tourist attractions. And how did the tourists get there? Two ways - by train and by steamboat, the latter from Jacksonville via the St. John’s and Ocklawaha Rivers. The railroad depot in Silver Springs was a two-story building built right on the edge of the main basin of Silver Springs (roughly where the glass bottom boat landing is now), and featured a rail platform on one side and a steamboat landing on the other.

There are several good photos on the Florida State Archives web site, but this one is, as far as I’m concerned, the best.

If you want a larger, coastal port, the Florida archives also has a photo of horses being loaded onto railroad cars at the Port of Tampa during the Spanish-American War

9

Here’s another one for you from the Florida Archives - the steamer Osceola departing the Port of Jacksonville with the Atlantic Coast Line wharf in the foreground.

Also, check out Prince’s books on the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line, which include information on both railroads’ steamship operations and port connections in the Southeast. These can be hard to find, but worth the search. Check with your local library.

10

Thanks SOOO much for all of the information; you’ve all been a huge help. The image links are right on, and I’ll head to the library right away to find these books.

11

Gardiner’s Depot

http://www.mdhs.org/Library/Images/Mellon%20Images/Z24access/z24-00233.jpg

http://www.mdhs.org/Library/Images/Mellon%20Images/Z24access/z24-00234.jpg

B&O piers (reverse image)

http://www.mdhs.org/Library/Images/Mellon%20Images/Z24access/z24-00817.jpg

Maryland Historical Society

http://www.mdhs.org/library/Z24Rail.html

http://www.mdhs.org/library/Z24Maritime.html