Would you have any information about a depot located at Burroughs, GA (south of Savannah) that was built around 1860 and demolished (replaced by a nearly automated facility) about 1960?

My father worked there for many years and I have fond memories of visiting him at work. I've visited a number of website with early pictures of depots and stations, but no mention of this (small) location. At the time my father worked there, the Atlantic Coastline and Seaboard Airline railroads crossed at the depot (called the Tower by the locals). Thanks, Larry Reddick

-- Larry Reddick (lreddick@houston.rr.com), January 16, 2005

Answers

The "tower" was a one-story red brick structure located on the east side of the ACL double-track main and on the south side of the single- track SAL main. I believe the interlocking was automated about the time the SAL installed Traffic Control on its line. After the merger, the SAL main, as well as the SAL steel and concrete bridge over the Ogeeechee River, was abandoned between Burroughs and a new connection built at Ogeechee on the south side of the river in favor of the double-track ACL main and (timber) bridge. The "Tower" was torn down circa 1975. I spent many weekend mornings and afternoons after school photographing trains at Burroughs 1973-1975 -- and the "Tower" is prominent in many of the slides.

-- Sherrod G. Patterson (sgpattersonatty@mindspring.com), January 19, 2005.

Larry - As John Golden indicates, you are thinking of the signal tower at the ACL-SAL crossing. Your comments about "nearly automated" and that the locals called it the "Tower" further suggest this. Research shows that both the ACL and SAL passenger train stops at Burroughs, about a 1/4 mile apart, were flagstops, the ACL back to 1903, and the SAL back prior to 1920. Both stations were unmanned from prior to 1935, so it is doubted your father worked in the stations. The last ACL passenger time for Burroughs was listed in about October 1962

-- Tom Underwood (tlu1650@attglobal.net), January 17, 2005.

Mr. Reddick,

I'm not aware of the existence of a "depot" at Burroughs, but if you say one was there and you were in it, then I believe you! The only significant structure I am aware of was the interlocking tower at the former SAL-ACL junction at Burroughs, which was a brick structure. The dates you mention for the depot's demolition don't match the interlocking tower's life--the tower lasted until shortly after the SCL merger. I've never seen a photo of a depot there, and have only seen one photo of the brick interlocking tower which belonged to Mr. Don Rountree, a former SAL dispatcher. By the way, which road did your father work for?

John Golden O'Fallon, IL

-- John Golden (Golden1014@yahoo.com), January 16, 2005.