A

From the latter half of the nineteenth century and well into the 1950s, railroads played a huge role in transferring people and products all over the United States. We’ve discussed at length in these articles the importance of the two railroad depots (passenger and freight) in Tullahoma that served first the Nashville & Chattanooga, then Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis (NC&StL) railroad companies. However, Tullahoma was not the only area town with busy railroad activity.

Thanks to the photographic images of John W. Barriger III, we have photographic evidence of many small towns’ railroad depots, including in towns close to Tullahoma. We’ll look at some of them this week and next.

First, an introduction to Mr. Barriger. He spent most of his adult life in some form of the railroad business, having worked his way up from lower positions to eventually being president of four different railroads between 1946 and 1973. From 1933 to 1941, he worked for the federal government as the railroad chief of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. That is when these photographs were taken. Judging from the cars in the photos, these are from the late 1930s. Barriger took his camera with him as he traveled about inspecting railroads for the RFC. His photographs and documents form the nucleus of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, and they encompass many different railroads.

This week, we examine the Barriger photos of NC&StL depots in Wartrace and Bell Buckle and some familiar scenes between and around the depots. Give credit for some of the information on these photos to railway aficionados who commented on specific photographs of the Barriger collection on Flickr.

All images: John W. Barriger III Photos. Barriger National Railroad Library at UMSL.

Do you have sharp pictures and interesting stories from Tullahoma’s or Coffee County’s past? If so, reach out to me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.