Murfreesboro, TN: CSX/L&N/NC&StL Depot

20150828-31 4299c, Gimp brightness +30

While staying in Murfreesboro, I followed the railroad through town on a satellite map and found what looked like a depot building. Unfortunately, their parking lot was clearly marked CSX "Private Property." Fortunately, it was a Saturday, and there was no one present to notice me. That is my van on the right parked well away from their stuff. And I took the pictures from the sidewalk area. Since it was a Saturday, all of their MoW equipment was in the parking lot.

I zoomed into the front and rear of the truck in the middle to show that high-rail equipment had been added to the trucks. Unfortunately, the flap behind the rear wheel obscures most of the right-rear rail wheel.

The long building was definitely the NC&StL passenger depot because it had the bay window to accommodate the agent's desk so that he can more easily see what is approaching on the tracks. Neither building looked like it handled LCL freight because I could not spot any large filled-in areas that were once freight doors. Given the air conditioning compressor on the side of the building, CSX has obviously converted the buildings to be used as offices and/or minor repair shops.

One neat aspect of old buildings is that they many times have their build date included as part of the structure. In this case it is on the cupola.

I got in the van and drove to someone else's parking lot on the other side of the tracks to get the platform side of the buildings. I still could not find any evidence of freight doors. There is quite a bit of vacant land south (to the right) of these buildings and some of the leads are still present. Perhaps a freight house was down there.

I just remembered that Tennessee was a confederate state. Was the little building the waiting room for African-Americans? (Update: the Macon, GA depot confirms that there were separate waiting rooms.)

The yellow thing on the siding at the bottom of the above picture about 2/3 from the left is a derail. I took a closeup of it because I also wanted to get pictures of the track. The condition of the track is an issue for CSX. In this case, the tracks look pretty good. Even the sidings.

The picture on the right is a repeat so that I can note that I was facing southish when I took it. The picture below is in the other direction. The locomotives you see on the left are on the siding that has the derail.

The siding continues to Southland Brick and Block. I don't know if that industry still uses rail service, but CSX does use the siding for storage. Note the gondola car in the distance as well as the three locmotives. This siding still uses jointed rail, but the rail seems to be straight but rather weedy. The mainline and the siding by the depot is CWR (Continuous Welded Rail) with lots of fresh ballast.