At the yard formed by the merger of the Abbeville and Midland CSX lines in Athens, GA there are two sidings that are elevated at the end. You can see in the link below that the outside one is supported by timbers and rises quite high. Does anybody know what this might have been? (You can also change the direction of the view by clicking on the compass.)
I was thinking that it might have had something to do with dumping coal, but it really dosen’t look high enough for that.
I do believe it was a coal dump at one time. They probably didn’t maintain it for 50 +/- years after steam was retired for coal. They probably use it for dumping ballast now. It may be only 5-6 feet high underneath, they would probably use a front-end loader to move the material.
Brad
Is it really elevated? If you look about 100 yds west of the ends of track, the 2 stub tracks appear to be on the same grade at the adjacent through tracks. They couldn’t have gained too much elevation in that short of distance. The grade level around them also doesn’t appear to fall away, such to create elevation. It almost looks like there is dirt or other materials piled up around the end of the stub tracks, somewhat encircling them, thereby giving the impression that they’re elevated.
Yes the outer-most one is elevated, you can tell by the shadows. The grade starts at the little tree between the tracks. It gains no more than a few feet though.
I think it was indeed used for dumping coal. Maybe trying to find some pictures from days past will shed more light onto it?
I think it was used for coal as well.
You can easily tell that it is raised from that overpass. Perhaps the Gainesville Midland had a maintence area for their engines there at Fowler Junction. Sadly, I can’t find any period pictures. I wonder if their is any diagrams or surveys of the area at the court house?
The probability of Val maps being in the courthouse are quite low(*). Have a feeling the structure would show up in the construction topo / as-built for the highway plans if found anywhere in the county offices.
(*) Counties do not collect taxes from railroads directly. The railroads pay the state which in turn distributes the tax dividends to each county. County Assessor Maps and County GIS data tends to be a joke as far as railroads are concerned. (in Colorado, El Paso County GIS still thinks the Rock Island exists and lists a contact address in Topeka KS that is now a Battered Women’s shelter. The county refused help in changing the identity to the true owners because they felt they knew better than the folks that know how to railroad and there was nothing in the county books to say ownership had changed)
DO YOU REALYY WANT THE BATTERED WOMENS SHELTER TO HAVE A PUBLIC LISTING!!???
come on here use your noodle on this…
Could it have been used for transloading cinders from from ashpit into a hopper for “Ballast” spreading?