The West Point Route was actually a nickname used in the early 20th century for the joint operations of the

Atlanta and West Point Railroad The Atlanta and West Point Rail Road was a railroad in the U.S. state of Georgia, forming the east portion of the Atlanta- Selma West Point Route. The company was chartered in 1847 as the Atlanta and LaGrange Rail Road and renamed in 1857; constr ...

and the

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 ...

. The name refers to the city of

West Point, Georgia West Point is a city in Troup County, Georgia, Troup and Harris County, Georgia, Harris counties in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is located approximately halfway between Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta ...

, where the two railroads met. Until the 1960s the route carried Southern Railway passenger trains, such as the ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

'' and the ''

Piedmont Limited The ''Piedmont Limited'' was a named passenger train operated by the Southern Railway in the southern United States. For most of its life it was a New York—New Orleans train, operating over the same route as the more famous '' Crescent Li ...

'' on New York to New Orleans service. By the latter 1960s, the ''Crescent'' was the only remaining passenger train. In 1970 the ''Crescent'' was rerouted on its present-day more northwestern route, through Birmingham. Major station stops, southwest from Atlanta's

Terminal Station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

were in Georgia: Newman, LaGrange, West Point, in Alabama: Opelika, Auburn, Chehaw and Montgomery. Coach-only trains made additional station stops. Passenger trains continued west beyond Montgomery to Mobile and New Orleans on

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

territory.Southern Railway timetable, 1952, Tables A, B, C https://streamlinermemories.info/South/SOU52TT.pdf

References

Defunct Alabama railroads Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads {{GeorgiaUS-transport-stub