Dunwoody Railroad Museum
The Roswell Railroad:
This 1883 map from the Library of Congress shows the area that is now (2001) the
north metro area of Atlanta. The Roswell Railroad is shown between Chamblee and Roswell. The Roswell never crossed
the Chattahoochee River. Note that the one station stop in between is Dunwoody. This is at the intersection of
Mt Vernon and Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.
On Wed, 21 Nov 2001, I heard from Bob Whitaker. His e-mail covered two separate railroads. Below is his input on the Roswell. Thanks Bob for your input. I would be interested in seeing/buying a copy of "Hitt's excellent spiral bound book".
Doug:
Have been "on the track" of the Roswell, G&NW, and TF for years off and on.
Since works have already been done on the TF and Roswell, I've recently been focusing efforts on the G&NW.
Re the Roswell, I assume you've seen Hitt's excellent spiral bound book. There's also a reference in the "Ghost
Trains of GA" book. I understand there is a section of Roswell Railroad rail in a museum in Bulloch Hall --
plus a map of the RR in the Roswell Welcome/Info center. I've seen neither. I walked around Roswell depot area
back in late 70's. Shopping mall and offices were already there. However, I did find what appeared to be the last
few feet of a graded fill on the property ending at the road which now parallels the river. I believe this was
part of the coal trestle track. I walked along the fill and picked up a few spikes which I still have somewhere.
Based on maps I've seen, I don't think the RR went down to the river. I work for NS and recently acquired copies
of our old val maps for the entire Roswell RR route. The Roswell "complex" -- according to the val map
-- included the following: depot, coal trestle, ice house, cattle pen, 2 warehouses, and facilities for both Standard
Oil and Texaco ("Texas Co.").
Re Dunwoody, val map shows depot on west side of mainline (Roswell being north). This depot was served by a siding
connected to mainline by turnouts at both ends. There were 3 section houses just north of depot. One appears to
have had an out building beside it.
Bob Whitaker
The Roswell Railroad (also known as the Roswell Branch of the Southern Railroad and the
Roswell Branch Railroad) has lost allot of its remains due to development over the years. This site is to document
where to find the Roswell Railroad remains.
Starting from Chamblee at the Norfolk Southern Railroad station, the Roswell Railroad (also known
as the "Dinky") left the Southern Railroad tracks (as the NS was known until its merger with Norfolk
and Western in the late 1980's). There is a map in the State Archives that shows the entire Roswell Railroad. There
is also a plat in the Dekalb County court house that shows a portion of the yards in Chamblee when the Roswell
Railroad still operated. The current station was built when the underpass for Chamblee-Dunwoody Road was built
under Southern Railway. The original station was in the current Norfolk Southern parking lot and the building's
end probably was on the current retaining wall.
I could not locate any of the old grade until I arrived at the Chamblee First United Methodist Church at Nancy
Creek. Here the grade across Nancy Creek is clearly visible.
This shot was taken
standing approximately on the old railroad grade looking back towards Chamblee. The church's playground is on the
approach fill leading to the trestle that used to cross the creek. On the other side of the church, there is a
path or nature trail up a small creek. There are signs that this trail was on the original railroad grade. At one
point there is an old fence along side the trail that has a railroad tie as a support - not conclusive but very
strong evidence.
Several hundred feet back into the woods, the trail makes a sharp right turn and the old grade appears to be lost.
It may have been washed away. However this draw comes out in Chamblee on the I-285 side of Chamblee Plaza. I suspect
that the Roswell Railroad came out here.
In the other direction
towards Roswell, the remaining trestle piers that once carried the line over Nancy Creek near Chamblee- Dunwoody
Road are mostly gone.
Until the 1980's, there was a full pier with spikes (about 15-18 feet high) in the middle of Nancy Creek. It was cut down for safety reasons due to the play ground.
This shot is from the along the fill towards the other bank of Nancy Creek. The kudzu in the foreground is on the fill. The trees and houses in the back ground are 100-200 feet away on the north bank of the creek.
This winter I used a zoom lens on my 35 mm camera from here and saw 2 of the remaining handful of supports for
the long gone trestle. The last time I walked up to them was when they were constructing the subdivision and there
were four (as I recall) left. They look like oddly placed rotting out telephone poles. They are now obscured by
the foliage.
This picture is of a
trestle on the former D&RGW in Colorado. Other than the main uprights being square instead of round as in the
Roswell bridge remains I saw, this looks similar to the the long gone bridge.
If you hear a ghost whistle while eating at either Arby's (I-285 Georgetown) or Mrs. Winner's, look close, these
buildings are on the old right of way in the middle of the former track.
This is looking
back towards Chamblee. The center of the photo is approximately the rail grade (The line ran straight between Mrs.
Winners on the other side of I-285 and here and I tried to line it up).
The old Mrs. Winners (that burned down
a few years ago) was narrower because of the small piece of property it was located on was left over from a railroad
day's property lines that made the property between the gas station and the motel almost unusable. In fact the
old parking area and driveway on the right side of the picture did not connect to the motel parking lot. The drive
ran through the right third of the current Mrs. Winner's building. This is looking down the old grade towards Roswell.
In the back ground,
you can see the red of Mrs. Winner's.
The property lines here still define the old railroad grade.
This is looking back towards Chamblee.
Looking towards Roswell
from the same spot.
There was a 10-12 foot high fill about 100 feet long somewhere in the apartment complex ahead.
According to aerial photographs, this fill is no longer in the complex.
At the DECA building
on Shallowford road, the property lines are still showing the railroad's influence.
The fence between DECA and the apartment complex is along the old right of way.
The other side of the
fence shows that the old grade mostly destroyed by the apartment complex's grading. This
is looking back towards Chamblee.
The railroad then come
out along side the apartment complex (about parallel with the driveway curb in the foreground) and swung across
Shallowford to Peeler and then crossed back to the left side of Chamblee-Dunwoody.
This is looking towards Roswell.
Looking back to Chamblee, this turn lane
is above the old grade.
A cut for the railroad to go through the rise here at Chamblee-Dunwoody and Womack is apparent even though it is filled in due to the lack of maintenance.
It is centered just to the right of the green and white housing development sign.
This is the view from the other side of
the rise along the approximate railroad grade.
The new sidewalk and curb here have covered
up some of the grade, but the grade starts to move away from the road and ends up being centered in the undisturbed
woods on the orange flag (right- center foreground).
Old time Dunwoody residents
will remember that this was the U.S. Post Office (left) and Thompson's Grocery store (right). This is where the
beginnings of the Dunwoody railroad yards were.
I have had conflicting reports on the Dunwoody station layout. A map published by Jim Perkins in 1996 of Dunwoody
in the early 1900's show the only switch in the Dunwoody yard to be in front of the Dunwoody Town Hall and the
station about at Burger King.
However, I have heard that here was where the switch was and the station was sited under the Amoco station. I also
saw reference that there might have been two switches here in Dunwoody. Since the Roswell Railroad only had one
locomotive, I can see little reason to have a double ended siding here.
The Roswell followed along
the left side of Chamblee-Dunwoody here with two tracks - one for the main line and one for serving Dunwoody's
sawmill and grist mill.
Here is the last remaining
Roswell Railroad company crew house. The 1996 Perkins map says that there were a total of three of these houses
going back to the Hickory House.
When I moved here in 1968, I was sure there were 5-6 stretching back to Burger King.
Based on other railroad section camps (or towns), 5-6 would be more typical but by no way definitive.
At the rise near 5759
Chamblee-Dunwoody road, there is a cut that partially remains on the right side of the road.
After this cut, the Roswell ran through a field to the right of Chamblee-Dunwoody and ended up coming out on Spaulding Road. In the field, it connected to the Bull Sluice Railroad.
The Bull Sluice was a common carrier that was wholly owned by the Roswell. Since its traffic base would disappear when the dam was completed, it was decided that it would be leased to the Roswell for operation and would be easily abandoned after its traffic had disappeared (My limited research here may be in error).
A well preserved piece of grade is in the Fulton County BIG TREE'S preserve. It can easily be seen and the BIG TREE'S hiking map clearly defines where the grade is and one path is on the grade for a 100 feet or so. I understand it can be followed all the way down to the river. I seem to have read that it did carry a few non-construction freight items but I may be wrong.
The only other non-grade piece of the Roswell's existence (that I have personally been able to verify) is at Morgan Falls. The fenced in section of the dam at the tailrace now prevents easy access. If you walked out towards the river side of the now fenced in section and the dam was not releasing water (not generating electricity), the water in the river is below the old Bull Sluice grade and you can see about 4-5 feet of railroad rail protruding from the concrete dam (of course the ties are long since gone).
The Roswell closely followed Spaulding
to this point where it continued the gradual curve to the left through the brick wall.
Looking back towards Chamblee,
the railroad came from Roswell on the left side of Roberts Drive and then angled to the right through the brick
wall between the two telephone poles in the back ground. This connected to the brick wall shown above.
Closer to Roswell but
looking back towards Chamblee, the former railroad cut can be seen at the trees on the left of Roberts Drive.
This is near Davis Academy.
The northbound right turn lane (far left) is on the grade itself.
This Church is on Dunwoody
Place. currently the Korean Living Stone Church.
The back side of the
church is on the edge of the old railroad right of way.
Reports, maps, and verbal history have muddied where the end of the line was. Reports say it ended right at the covered bridge that used to carry Roswell Road across the Chattahoochee into Roswell. The railroad stopped on the south side of the river. One map I saw led me to believe the railroad terminal ended underneath the site of the shopping center at Roswell Road and Dunwoody Place. The grade from the Korean Stone Church points to this. Roswell Road's steep decent to the river leads me to believe that the railroad did not descend to the river - the grade would have been too steep.
I had heard from Bill Bryant Jr. (recently deceased) that there is a barn on the banks of the Chattahoochee that was originally the engine house. I have not located this structure. However aerial photographs show a draw that comes from the back of one corner of the shopping center and goes down to the river. A quick glance at this leads me to believe that a railroad might have used this as a way down to the covered bridge.
If anyone has any information about this dilemma, or anything else about the Roswell, I'd be grateful to hear from
you.
Documents showing these grades were located in the Dekalb County Court House. Public Service Commission Reports
for the Roswell Railroad are preserved at the State Archives downtown near the stadium.
History:
According to the book American Narrow Gauge Railroads (1990), the railroad that served Roswell and Dunwoody by connecting with the mainline railroads at Chamblee was chartered as the Atlanta & Roswell RR on April 10, 1863 to connect the town of Roswell with the Western and Atlantic Railroad (of The Great Locomotive Chase fame). However, funds could not be raised until the Atlanta and Richmond Air Line Railroad (A&RAL) was constructing its line to Atlanta. (note: "Air Line" was commonly used in railroad names in the eastern U.S. prior to about 1900. It meant that the railroad traveled as close to a straight line between its terminals or an "air line". Today we might say "as the crow flies") The A&RAL endorsed the Atlanta & Roswell railroad's bonds in exchange for the A&R moving its connection to the outside world to a location near Doraville originally called Roswell Junction and now called Chamblee.
Both railroads failed about 1874 without the A&R having been completed. In 1879, the both railroads emerged from reorganization. The A&RAL had become the Atlanta & Charlotte Air Line (A&C). The A&R became the Roswell Railroad with 50% plus 1 share of its stock being held by the A&C. On September 1, 1881, the Roswell Railroad had completed the 10 odd miles from Chamblee to Roswell Road covered bridge as a 3-foot narrow gauge railroad. Narrow gauge construction supposedly allowed the line to be built less expensively.
The Roswell had one locomotive and 1 passenger car (a combination baggage car and coach). When it was narrow gauge, it owned 2 box cars and 4 flat cars. A&C's successor Southern Railway (now part of Norfolk Southern) started operating the line as a branch of its own far flung system in 1894. The expense of transshipping goods at Chamblee to Southern's standard gauge equipment caused the Southern to regauge the Roswell branch in fiscal 1902-1903.
Southern operated the line until June, 1920. It was then operated for freight service only until the end of 1921 by the Fulton Transfer and Storage Co. as the Roswell Branch Railroad. The line was then abandoned.
Roswell provided textiles. Dunwoody provided lumber and cotton. Both consumed general merchandise. Roswell was also a weekend place for Atlantans and it was just a half days train ride away. President Theodore Roosevelt rode the Roswell to and from Roswell for his wedding.
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I may be contacted at douglasvanveelen@spring.com