Etowah Depot

Title

Etowah Depot

Artist

Pat Turner

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photos

Description

Louisville & Nashville's 1906 Etowah, Tennessee Depot & Veteran's Memorial Park.
The L&N RR first came through Etowah in 1878 heading south to north Marietta, GA (Elizabeth, GA) But they ran into a major obstacle while crossing the high mountains near Bald Mountain. So the tracks stopped there because they had to go up 150' in less than 1,500' which is not possible for a normal train.
The other end of the tracks had already been built at the top and connected to the N.C & St.L. at Elizabeth, GA. In that 150' gap they had to unload all passengers onto stage coaches and all freight into wagons and go up a dangerous trail to the upper railhead and be put back on another train.
This went on for about a year until the railroad built a series of switchbacks so the train could zig zag up the mounting and continue on. While freight and passengers no longer had to taken off one train and relaoded onto another, this was still slow going up and down the mountain.
They soon decided to loop the tracks around Bald Mountain, creating one of only three points in the United States where railroad tracks loop over themselves to gain elevation in limited space. (All three are still in active use today~!)
This loop in the tracks, completed in 1898.
The loop actually goes around Bald Mountain 1 3/4 times to gain enough elevation.
In 1903-4 L&N started to get land for a better route to reach Atlanta.
In 1906 the "New Line" was completed with much straighter track and much lower grades.
Now the L&N had two lines out of Etowah, TN to Atlanta and built this wonderful Depot that was the nicest station between Knoxville & Atlanta.
The two lines lasted 82 years both running to Atlanta.
The Old Line was sold off in two pieces, the Tennessee half and the Georgia half.
They both fell into disrepair at different times, but are now full restored and running again.

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December 13th, 2020

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