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At one time, the separate Tullahoma passenger and freight depot buildings for the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad (later the Louisville & Nashville, a.k.a. L&N) stood between the two sides of Atlantic Street, where the red L&N caboose now sits. After World War I, the freight depot was moved a couple blocks south where it could serve the main line as well as the spur line to Manchester, McMinnville, and Sparta. Later, the passenger depot was moved a couple blocks north to where the building sits now.

As passenger train travel dropped significantly in the years after World War II, the Tullahoma main terminal became the freight terminal, and the old freight terminal at the spur line was eventually torn down in 1969. During those in-between years, there were still businesses in Tullahoma without sidings that relied on railway freight services and there were various ways to load and unload those train cars. Additionally, for a while Tullahoma was a location for “piggyback” train services, semi-trailers on flat cars.

Ever inquisitive about Tullahoma’s history, I’ve been intrigued by a concrete ramp I spotted in the grass across Atlantic Street from The Atlantic event venue. A little further exploration and I noticed a couple of abandoned railway sidings near the ramp. An aerial look via Google Earth revealed that there were barely discernible traces of where tracks had once been, an additional siding leading right to that ramp. In the July 2, 1976, edition of the Tullahoma News and Guardian is an article about Tullahoma’s train service, accompanied by a Bob Hammers photo of the piggybacks. The concrete ramp is likely the remnant of the method used to access the trailers that were loaded on and off the flat cars.

Further clues about how the freight service was alternately accessed can be found in this postcard photo by Bob Couch. Jr., taken from the old water tower just south of Lincoln Street around 1967 or so. In the center of the picture, there is a boxcar on one of the aforementioned sidings and a box truck backed up to it. It’s difficult to tell, but there may be a fork truck between the two. Otherwise, the freight is being loaded or unloaded by hand. Postcard courtesy of Roland Segroves.

I am searching for pictures of Davidson Academy in addition the following businesses: Lannom Manufacturing, Wilson Sporting Goods, M.R. Campbell Mfg., Tennessee Overall, Tennessee Glove, Tullahoma Brick, and any Tullahoma vehicle dealers from the 1930s through 1980s. If you have photos that I can borrow, I’ll scan and return immediately. You can contact me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.