Did the M&B interchange traffic with the CofG at Thomaston? Was these a separate M&B station at Thomaston? The Southern's Ft Valley branch and the M&B ran just about parallel for the 5 miles between Yatesville and Culloden...are there any traces left there today of these 2 old rail lines? Thanks for a great new rail site.

-- Greg Hodges (ghodges@smpsfa.com), November 26, 2001

Answers

Greg...

Thanks for giving us a try!! I imagine that Bob Hanson will be able to answer these questions in a heart beat. It's my hope that more information on the whereabouts and remnants of the M&B will be forthcoming so I can post them on the site.

You may note some pages are not yet changed....we're working on them as quickly as possible. Again, thanks for your support of the GS&F RR Historical Society. Pass the news around!!

Buck Dean, Webmaster

-- Buck Dean (b.dean2@home.com), November 27, 2001.

Greg -

Buck's confidence in my abilities may have been misplaced, here, asI can answer only a portion of this question.

The Official Railway Equipment Register for September, 1916, does not show Thomaston as an interchange point. The only interchange point shown with the CofG in this source is at Harris, GA. (Also called Harris City.)

According to the Official Guide for November, 1908, the Central and the M&B used separate depots situated about 100 yards apart.

As to traces of the rights of way for these lines -- someone else will have to answer that one. I do have a piece of rail (Courtesy of our esteemed president) that was dug up from the right of way of the M&B, as well as a piece of trim from the M&B Depot at Moran, GA, so in a way, "traces" do exist.

-- Robert H. Hanson (RHanson669@aol.com), November 29, 2001.

As best as I can determine the M&B and the Central did interchange in Thomaston, though the connecting track north of the present station did not exist at the time of the ICC valuation in 1916-17. The two railroads maintained separate facilities. The M&B station was near the site of the exisitng station. The tracks from east of Thomaston to Blacks apparently were operated jointly as double track since the schedule of the two daily passenger trains shows them passing on this section. This was the longest "passing" track between Sofkee and LaGrange, since all others, including the one in downtown Thomaston, are more like station or runaround tracks holding 20-25 cars.

-- Gary Bechdol (gary.bechdol@rwhitehead.com), November 30, 2001.

> -----Original Message----- > From: Mosely Mark S Civ WRALC/LKSE > Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 9:56 AM > To: 'ghodges@smpsfa.com' > Subject: M&B Forum Question > > Greg: > > Hello. Good to see your question on the GS&F website forum. Hopefully > some of our members will jump in and assist you. I will attempt to answer > your questions but please keep in mind that there are more experts out. > > Question 1: Did the M&B interchange traffic with the CofG at Thomaston? > > The answer to that is no. The CofG came into Thomaston (former Upson > County Railroad) and stopped just a few hundred yards away from the M&B > line near the M&B Depot. WHen the M&B ceased operations in 1922 and the > track was taken up in 1927, the CofG extended their tracks to connect with > the former M&B. Then they used the former M&B section from Thomaston to > Crest with contracts with a fruit company. From what I understand, the > CofG upgraded the former M&B line and ran until the early 1960's. > Patterson's Book entitled "Upson County Railroad" vividly describes the > disposition of the CofG with the M&B. Also according to some early maps > of Upson County (1897), it clearly shows no connections or > interchangeabilities with each railroad. ALso the 1915 M&B RofWay Maps > confirms this concept as well. > > Question 2: Was there a separate M&B Station at Thomaston? Yes. There > were two separate stations in Thomaston, one for the Central and the other > for the M&B. The M&B depot remains standing and is now a Feed and Seed > store located on Railroad St. When the CofG took over the M&B section, we > believe that they had fully upgrade the depot to accomodate their traffic; > both passenger and freight. The 1915 M&B maps also confirms this. > > QUestion 3: The Southern's Ft Valley branch and the M&B ran just about > parallel for the 5 miles between Yatesville and Culloden...are there any > traces left there today of these 2 old rail lines? > > The Southern's Ft Valley branch was the former Atlanta & Florida Rwy line, > constructed in 1886. It came up through Culloden where it paralled the > M&B for at least 3 miles. The spot where they crossed each other is on SR > 74 and you still can see some of the flat roadbed on the right side if you > are traveling due east. Folks from Yatesville have told us the exact > spot. ALso the 1915 M&B Maps show the spot as well. > > Greg, for further review, I believe that you need a set of the 1915 M&B > maps. They are chocked with vital information about the M&B.. The HS has > them available at $10 a set. There are roughly 50 11X17 pages. Let me > know if you want a set. > > Thanks for the compliments on the rail site. We are fortunate to have > Buck Dean as a new webmaster. Please pass the word on. >

-- Mark Mosely (MOSEGSF@aol.com), November 30, 2001.

After reading the additional responses to this question, I went back and checked some additional sources on the "interchange" portion of this question. After looking at several Official Guides, I can conlcude only that the CofG and M&B did not interchange traffic at Thomaston, as none of the Guides I checked show an interchange point there.

There may have been - and likely was - a track connection at Thomaston, but a track conection does not necessarily imply an interchange. An interchange point exists only where two railroads have agreed to exchange freight and have agreed to divisions of revenue over that point. Apparently this happened only at Harris, and not at Thomaston, between these two roads.

Hope this helps.

Bob Hanson

-- Robert H. Hanson (RHanson669@aol.com), November 30, 2001.