GDG- Re:Confederate railroads

[Biggsk at aol.com]

Jack writes:

>>>According to the Army War College, Levenworth Campus, The  South had two 
gauges, and they were not compatible. A train coming in from one  side of town 
would have to be unloaded and then loaded on a train on the other  side of 
town, or the depot, as the case may be.>>>
 
As to gauges, Black's maps have these:
 
4 feet 8 1/2 inches
5 feet
5 feet 6 inches (this gauge being found only in the Trans-Miss)
 
Here is a rough breakdown by CS state:
 
Virginia - mostly 4.8 gauges with some 5 foot gauges in the southern part  of 
the state including the line from Suffolk to the Tennessee line.  No  through 
tracks in the cities.
 
NC - all 4.8 gauges except the line from Wilmington to Florence, SC.   Also 
no through tracks in cities.
 
SC - all 5 foot gauges - I think a mix of through tracks and no through  
tracks
 
GA - a 5 foot gauge and all through tracks in cities
 
FL - all 5 foot gauge
 
Al - all 5 foot gauge and through tracks
 
MS - all five foot gauge and through tracks
 
LA - one 5 foot gauge to New Orleans (the end of the line from Memphis) and  
the res being 5.6 gauge
 
TN - a  5 foot gauge and all through tracks
 
KY - while not a state that seceded, all 5 foot gauge and through tracks  
that tied into TN
 
Off all the states of the Confederacy, GA, SC and TN had the best systems  
for waging war in terms of state-wide coverage by rail.
 
Where a five foot gauge reached a town with the 4.8 foot gauge you would  
indeed have to offload and go through the town and get back on the new trains to  
continue.  This did not happen at all within the states of GA, SC , TN and  
AL.  VA and NC were hampered not only by the two different gauges but also  no 
through tracks even on lines of the same gauge.



The South primarily had trains that skirted the mountains, taht  ran all the 
way to tghe Littoral areas. Thus, there were few east west  lines.


They had two at the start - the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville that  
connected with the Memphis and Ohio and the Memphis & Charleston.   There was a 
system already going in the middle of MS and AL that was to connect  with GA but 
the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers were not yet bridged and so the  line was not 
complete.  This was strongly urged by Confederate commanders  in the West 
during the war.  The lines did tie in with river boats at both  locations however.
 
Greg Biggs



************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.