Selma once was a busy railroad town and still has rail traffic for freight, which has increased in recent years. This line parallels Alabama Highway 22 toward Orrville.In 1849, Selma was chosen by the legislature to be a terminus for track leading from north Alabama to the Alabama River. By 1855, tracks reached the Coosa River, paving the way for cotton from "up north" to be shipped to Selma via railroad, then down the Alabama River to the Port of Mobile. Both the Old Depot Museum and the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum feature sections with local railroad history.
Today, CSX, Norfolk-Southern and M&B operate rails in the Selma area.
10 comments:
It looks like you have had some dry weather there too. It sure has been hot here and dry.
Your 1849 date reminded me that the little village I was born in and grew up in, Gordon, was established one year earlier in 1848. And this area was very remote and wild or a wilderness back then.
It just never occured to me that your all were so much more developed than we were back then.
Hi Abe, I took this photo earlier in the summer, but we are still in a drought. However, rain the past several days is helping green things up a bit!
Back in the mid-19th Century, our town's leaders recognized that good transportation was important to the economy and worked to get railroads to complement our river system. These transportation arteries helped Selma become a primary arms manufacturer during the Civil War, but of course, that also meant it was a prime target of the Union...resulting in much of the town being ransacked and burned in 1865 by Wilson's Raiders.
So, I guess progress has its setbacks!
Nice shot and interesting to read.
I like the photo. The railroad is so straight. You would not find that in my region where they are "winding" due to the presence of so many mountains.
Hey , I really like this shot, it gives a good impression, here (in Holland)we do not have railways so close near a highway.Interesting th history, you do that very well!
:) JoAnn
une sensation d'une invitation au voyage "sur la route" et une forme d'infini avec ces rails qui s'en vont.
a feeling of an invitation to the voyage “on the road” and a form of infinite with these rails which from go away.
I imagine there were lots of roadsters that tried to race the trains.
interesting story -- Van Buren is "connected" to trains, too.
I like the angle of the tracks, color and overall shot. Nice one.
the composition with the railway is great!!
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