Bleeker, Ala interchange with Chattahoochee Valley Railroad

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Bleeker, Ala is halfway between Columbus, Ga and Opelika, Ala, and was an interchange point for the C of G with the Chattahoochee Valley Railway. The CV Railway ran from Bleeker north to West Point, Ga, and served the numerous mill towns of the Chattahoochee Valley. Who has more information on this CV Railway interchange?

-- Bill Fuller (BillFuller@aol.com), March 11, 1998

Answers

Can you point me those depots? I'd like some pictures of them to post on my web site. Contact me off list at burns186@bellsouth.net. Dale

-- Dale E. Burns (burns186@bellsouth.net), December 10, 2001.

Some of the original depots are still standing in the woods with no roads or tracks to reach them, most have forgotten that they exist.

-- Dr. Gary Pike (drbondusa@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

In a related topic, CV 2-8-0 #21 (Baldwin, 1924 for TA&G) is preserved at the Southeastern Railway Museum (www.srmduluth.org) in Duluth, GA. She was the last CV steam loco, and was actually in standby service until 1961. She was probably kept around because of the frequent floods in the area (steamers can travel through higher water than diesels).

-- Andrew Durden (sa750@boone.net), March 24, 2001.

this takes me back to my childhood. my father, c.w. duffee, was a track foreman for many years on the cv railroad. we lived just beside the track in riverview. i remember the steam engine, the deisel, and many enjoyable days spent playing on the tracks, and even going to work with my father. we rode the 'motorcar' from riverview to bleeker on many occasions. jess stevens, i recall, was my fathers partner and a very good man. too many memories to list.

-- sam duffee (saltfish54@hotmail.com), March 21, 2001.

I just tried to copy and paste the link I gave for the Bleecker interchange, and found that it was no good. There is an extra space after the "asp?" and an extra space at the end of the line. If you manually delete these spaces, the address is good. Then you can use the arrows on the borders of the map to follow the CV all the way to Standing Rock, although above West Point, the grade is labeled as "Old Railroad Grade". You can also follow the C of G to Opelika and up to Roanoke.

In a related note, there is a book out now called "Chattahoochee Valley Railway" by Tom Gallo with tons of pictures! Even a special C of G train with C of G Loco #809 in Fairfax! I ordered mine at Amazon.com.

-- chris terry (christerry@mindspring.com), February 17, 2000.



I sure would be interested in seeing that CV video. I have sent an email to the address listed, but have not gotten a reply yet.

Here is a topo map of the Bleecker interchange

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp? S=11&T=2&X=1680&Y=9015&Z=16&W=2

-- chris terry (christerry@mindspring.com), February 17, 2000.


If anyone is interested I was able to make a cab ride video on the CHV back in the early 90s. The trip starts from the CHV building, heads north along the river...then back south all the way to Riverview. The trip was made on a SW1000.

-- JR (strkeagl2@aol.com), June 18, 1999.

If Mr. Fuller will contact me, I've got a little info on this interchange. I'm unable to connect with E mail.

-- Rick Perry (railsend@mindspring.com), June 20, 1998.

There was a wye at Bleecker on the CHV, and also a woodyard. A back issue of Model Railroader had a feature on the CHV as a "Railroad You Can Model". There was a siding on the CG, and an interchange track. I remember the bridge over Lake Harding...we just to go under in my dad's boat. There was an old water tank within walking distance of the bridge. I doubt if it's still there...that was nearly 30 years ago!

-- Tom Holley (TH498@aol.com), March 20, 1998.

Saddest fact first - all of the CV is now gone. My mother's family is from The Valley, some of my favorite relatives still live there, and I get down that way several times a year. West Point Pepperell Company built the CHV and owned it, but after the JP Stevens merger many things changed in The Valley. Proceeds from the sale of the railroad assets would help unleverage the merger, so it was doomed.

The section from just above West Point down to Riverview, taken out within the past few years, was the last to go. You can still see the roadbed along Highway 29 from Langdale down by Valley High School and on to Fairfax and in many other places if you look for it. The Fairfax depot was still there last time I checked, a boarded up store, I think.

The section from Riverview to Bleeker has been gone for perhaps twenty plus years now. I could check on this, but 1974 rings a bell. Anyhow, you can see evidence of the line, including the trestle over Lake Harding, which is visible from the Princess Bridge on the county road that runs to Beulah. The station at McCullough sits right beside the River Road and looks pretty much like it must have when it was in operation.

At Bleeker little remains to show that the CG once interchanged with the CHV there. You can crawl around in the woods and find the roadbed but it is overgrown by, what else, kudzu and pines. There once was a station here and a few interchange tracks.

In addition to this interchange with the CG, the CHV also once interchanged with the CG north of West Point, but this line came out in 1932. There was an interchange with the AB&C at Standing Rock, and, of course, the West Point Route in West Point, GA.

CHV had locomotives, a few pulpwood cars and some blue and white boxcars with "Cotton for the looms of West Point" painted on them. I saw them, in much simpler paint, being torched on a cold winter afternoon.

There was even a piggyback terminal at West Point once upon a time. Yep, CHV had pigs. I have seen photos of at least one shipper's special that ran up from the CG to West Point. Bet the CG E-unit on the point took it slow that day.

Other than that, CHV got raw cotton off the CG and gave back towels and waste from the Martex plant. A line was built during the construction of Georgia Power's dam at West Point and the CHV earned big bucks hauling in construction materials.

Finally, if you are ever in Lanett going south on Highway 29 look for the original grade alignment. The CHV ran along the east side of 29 until just about exactly at the current I-85 interchange. There it crossed the road and ran diagonally to the southwest toward the mill at Shawmut. You can see the old route lopping off corners of people's yards; there is a power line on there now. The CHV here was realigned years and years ago to make way for improvements on 29.

-- Ron Wright (rcwright@bellsouth.net), March 16, 1998.



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