The Tuskegee Railroad was a 5 and 1/2 mile long railroad that connected

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

to the

Montgomery and West Point Railroad The Montgomery and West Point Railroad (M&WP) was an early 19th-century railroad in Alabama and Georgia. It played an important role during the American Civil War as a supply and transportation route for the Confederate Army, and, as such, was the ...

at the nearby village of Chehaw. First constructed in 1860 by the Tuskegee Rail Road Company, it was subsequently destroyed in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and then sold to E. T. Varner & Company, which rebuilt it and reincorporated it as the Tuskegee Railroad Company in 1872. Again incorporated in 1902 as the Tuskegee Railroad, one of the railroad's primary purposes in the early 20th century was to connect the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

to other railroad lines.

History

1860 Founding

On February 20, 1860, the State of Alabama granted a charter to incorporate the Tuskegee Railroad. The Railroad owners were

David Clopton David Clopton (September 29, 1820 – February 5, 1892) was a prominent Alabama politician. Biography Clopton was born in Putnam County, Georgia near Milledgeville, Ga., on September 29, 1820. He attended the county schools and Edenton Academy ...

, William Foster,

Cullen A. Battle Cullen Andrews Battle (June 1, 1829 – April 8, 1905) was an American attorney, farmer, and politician. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He fought Congressional Reconstruction after the war in Al ...

, Robert F. Ligon, J.W. Echols, S. B. Baine, G.W. Campbell, A. B. Fanin, John C. H. Reid, W. G. Swanson and A. D. Edwards. In 1860, 500

enslaved Africans The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

worked building the railroad under lease agreements with plantation owners who collected pay for the slave's labor.

Civil War - Rail Destroyed

U.S.

General Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...

sent U.S. General

Lovell Rousseau Lovell Harrison Rousseau (August 4, 1818 – January 7, 1869) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, as well as a lawyer and politician in Kentucky and Indiana. Early life and career Born near Stanford, Kentucky, on August ...

on a raid of the

where he destroyed rail to the Chehaw Station of the Tuskegee Railroad, cutting of connections to the Tuskegee Railroad from all points. The Tuskegee Railroad was melted down by Confederates for armaments for the

1872 Reconstruction

William G. Swanson and others bought the defunct railroad in 1869 and signed an agreement with E. T. Varner & Company, which rebuilt the railroad by 1872. It was run by E. T. Varner & Company as the Tuskegee Railroad until 1902 when it was incorporated under the same name and owned by E. T. Varner, L. V. Alexander and Campbell & Wright. Rates were 10 cents per mile in 1882.

1943 Tuskegee Airman

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002) was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American brigadier general in the USAF. On December 9, 1998, h ...

of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

remembered the 99 Squadron of bombers riding on the Tuskegee Railroad in 1943. He mentions segregation in his autobiography, unfair treatment of black people and the 19 pullman drawing room where the railroad put black politicians so they would not see worse effects of segregation.

Sale of Railroad in 1963

When

Interstate 85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, n ...

was built through Alabama and

Alabama State Route 81 State Route 81 (SR 81) is a state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. The southern terminus of the highway is at an intersection with US 29/ US 80/ SR 81 Truck in Tuskegee. The northern terminus of ...

was widened connecting the Tuskegee Institute to the Interstate in 1963, the need for the railroad was gone and the railroad received permission from the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...

to no longer operate. Trains were salvaged and warehouses were built where the depot was demolished after some of the property was sold.

1978 Literature

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel ''Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote ''Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collecti ...

wrote ''The Little Man at Chehaw Station: The American Artist and His Audience'' about a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician playing a

street performance Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

in the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The setting used was the Chehaw Station of the Tuskegee Railroad.

Line

Stations

*Chehaw (Junction with

(Old Chehaw Rd) The line is connected to

Western Railway of Alabama The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA) also seen as "WofA" was created as the Western Railroad of Alabama by the owners of the Montgomery & West Point Railroad (M&WP) in 1860. It was built to further the M&WP's development West from Montgomery, Ala ...

* Tuskegee 6 The train made three round trips, one at night. It took about 1 hour and thirty minutes to go one way.

Rolling stock

In 1876 the railway had one 10-ton-locomotive, 1 passenger car and 3 freight cars of all classes.Howard Fleming
''Narrow gauge railways in America. A sketch of their rise, progress and success: valuable statistics as to grades, curves, weight of rail, locomotives, cars, etc.''
1876. Page 91. Between 1888 through 1916 the Tuskegee Railroad Company had two locomotives, one to two passenger car and a baggage and mail car. The only surviving locomotive, 101, a

2-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Prairie. Overview The major ...

, was donated to the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

where it would serve as the museum's mainline locomotive until 1989.

References

{{Reflist Railway services discontinued in 1963 Rail freight transportation in the United States Defunct Alabama railroads Railway companies established in 1860 Railway companies disestablished in 1963 American companies disestablished in 1963 American companies established in 1860