Saturday, May 4, 2024

Meridian, MS: Southern Railyard, Roundhouses and Backshops

First Roundhouse: (Satellite)
Second Roundhouse: (Satellite, the fuel tank reused the land)

Tim Starr posted
Postcard of the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad roundhouse and shops in Meridian MS. The NO&NE was incorporated in 1868 in Louisiana and 1871 in Mississippi. No track was built, however, and the company's land lay unused until 1881, when control of the company was acquired by the Alabama, New Orleans, Texas & Pacific Junction Railways Company. Construction on the line began in 1882. The line opened in 1883 and extended 196 miles from New Orleans to Meridian, Mississippi. In 1916 the Southern Railway acquired the NO&NE, which had been marketed as a portion of the Queen and Crescent Route since the 1880s. From that point on the NO&NE owned or were assigned locomotives and other equipment with Southern lettering, but they carried NO&NE sublettering until the line was merged into the Alabama Great Southern in the late-60s, at which time sublettering was changed to AGS. In 1969, as part of an effort to simplify its corporate structure, the Southern Railway's Alabama Great Southern Railroad operating subsidiary merged the NO&NE, ending its existence on paper.
Tim Starr posted again
New Orleans & Northeastern roundhouse and shops in 1902 at one of its termination points, Meridian MS. The other end was at New Orleans. The Southern took it over in 1916 as part of the Queen and Crescent Route.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Tim's post
I wonder when they rebuilt the roundhouse and backshops. 1952 aerial photo [ARA000960101662]
 
Dennis DeBruler commented on his comment
It appears that it was rebuilt before 1921. [1921 Meridian Quad @ 48,000]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Tim's post
The fuel tank was built on the roundhouse land, https://maps.app.goo.gl/6RQYeVviSqNdHaD17.
1970 aerial photo [AR1VCJQ00010081]

Richard Shulby commented on Dennis' comment
The roundhouse you're seeing in the 1952 aerial is the slightly later Alabama Great Southern roundhouse built on the far side of the shop buildings in the photo sometime between 1902 and 1912. The NO&NE roundhouse was gone by 1950, and the AGS roundhouse was razed between 1952 and 1955. If you look closely at your 1921 map, you can see the crescent of the NO&NE to the left of the larger crescent for the AGS. Attached is the 1912 Sanborn showing both structures.


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