Gone, But Not Forgotten

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is an Alco S2 Switcher

– a sister to last week’s featured locomotive. This one is leaving the Engine House at West Point, Georgia to do some local switching. The locomotive was owned by the Chattahoochee Valley Railway. This short (9 ½ miles) railroad connected with the Atlanta & West Point and with the Western Railway of Alabama right there at West Point. The line was abandoned in 1992 after being in existence for 97 years. The information about this railroad, presented below was found at our good friends from Wikipedia. Originally the line was constructed by the Chattahoochee Valley Railroad on July 2,1895 from Langdale to Lanett, it was extended to Riverview by 1897. In 1900, the railroad was reorganized to become the Chattahoochee Valley Railway (CHV). Further expansion included new tracks south to Jester in 1899 and north to Standing Rock, Alabama by 1908. By extending tracks further to Bleecker in 1916 the railroad totaled 45 miles and connected to three other railroads. The railroad started retracting in 1932 when part of the railroad was abandoned from Standing Rock to West Point and passenger service ended. In the 1960s, a dam was constructed north of West Point, and the CHV built a short spur line to reach the construction site for delivery of materials. When construction of the dam was completed in 1973 the spur was abandoned. Around the same time, the railroad abandoned the line from Riverview to Bleecker. The railroad shut down completely on September 23, 1992, with tracks removed the following year. By the time of the abandonment the railroad numbered less than 10 miles. CHV 2-8-0 steam locomotive No. 21, built in 1924 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, is now on display at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia.

The post card was published by the same person who took the photograph: Mary Jayne Rowe. I have 243 post cards published by this lovely, now deceased lady. It was published on December 4, 1985 from Covington, Virginia.