Southern Railway Historical Association

06/14/2026

Congratulations on your 130th anniversary N.C. Transportation Museum!

Another tidbit of history, Coster Shop in Knoxville was built as its twin to the exact same drawings as Spencer Shops for many of the buildings and handled the same maintenance and repair for the Central and Western Lines on the Southern, including a full fabrication shop for new boilers.

Spencer Shops is celebrating 130 years in 2026, having officially opened during August 1896. The Southern Railway was formed in 1894 from the Richmond and Danville and Piedmont Air Line routes, naming Samuel Spencer as their first president. One main objective of his was to construct a new steam locomotive and car repair facility between Washington, DC and Atlanta, GA. The original North Carolina Railroad Company Shops located in Burlington, NC, was too small and could not adequately service modern steam locomotives.

The farmland between Salisbury and the Yadkin River was the halfway point between those two major cities, exactly 300 miles in either direction. The Southern Railway acquired approximately 300 acres, breaking ground during 1895. Construction of the major buildings occurred between 1895 and 1905, first with the original boiler shop, woodworking and blacksmith shops. The 600-foot-long back shop was completed in 1905, soon followed by the first roundhouse in 1915.

The main focus of Spencer Shops was the repair and overhaul of steam locomotives, freight and passenger cars, and the care and feeding of livestock. A freight yard was constructed beside the car repair shed for service across North Carolina. This continued into the 1940s, when diesel locomotives began to slowly replace steam through 1952. Eventually the Southern Railway decided to move all heavy locomotive repair to Atlanta,
Chattanooga and other smaller shops in 1960. Only the freight yard continued to operate until replaced by Linwood (New Spencer) Yard in 1979.

The museum has created an expanded look at this important anniversary on the main website, which can be accessed from this link: https://www.nctransportationmuseum.org/learn/spencer-shops-130th-anniversary/

Follow the lead of this switch crew, seen on September 13, 1947, and learn about Spencer
Shop’s history while taking a coffee break!

05/23/2026

We were proud to contribute to Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s restoration (sponsored by ScaleTrains) of the Southern 4501 back to its excursion era green.

We provided paint color and lettering diagram information as well as reference images and consulting to support an authentic appearance of the locomotive from its time in green between 1966 and 1996. Paint colors were matched to paint swatches from 1968 as well as samples from the original tender tank.

SRHA is always proud to assist its partners in preservation.

05/09/2026

Happy National Train Day! Enjoy the day safely along the rails!

The Crescent, led by E8A 6904, makes its scheduled station stop in Atlanta at Peachtree Station on a clear December day in 1972.

David W. Beach Photo

04/25/2026

SRHA now over 7700 followers on Facebook! Thank you all for your support and continuing to enjoy, comment on, and share our posts. We are so happy that so many of you all are fans of the Southern Railway and seeing all the railroad history that we share.

We want to challenge all our followers. While we have this many followers, help share and like and follow our page to get us to 8000 followers. But more importantly, to help us keep sharing this material, we would love for many of you to consider becoming SRHA members. Our member count is at 630 members and we would love to have many more of you become members.

SRHA has several membership tiers all including our quarterly TIES Magazine, where we share so many more interesting stories from the Southern. Sustaining memberships help to contribute to the archives and helps us to preserve our Southern Railway historical materials for generations to come. Please see the link in the comments or our profile to join today!

Southern 630 leads a 21st Century Steam Program excursion through Rising Fawn, GA heading back to Chattanooga after a trip to Attalla, AL on November 09, 2013.

Allyson Shannon Photo

04/18/2026

One of the most treacherous sections of railroad in the country will reopen today. For the first time since Hurricane Helene devastated the mountainous region of North Carolina in September 2024, a through train will travel across the famous loops between Swannanoa and Old Fort.

While this 1952 scene has changed in different ways over the years, the history of the loops continues to live on.

The back of the photo reads, "That's the old stage road to Asheville that they used to use 6 white horses on a stage and connect with the Western North Carolina Railroad at Old Fort. A night run."

Mill Creek, March 22, 1952.
R. B. Carneal Photo. Marvin Black Collection. SRHA Archives.

04/11/2026

Did you know SRHA has brand new merch? Follow this link to check it out!

Your purchase helps to preserve Southern Railway history for generations to come!

We appreciate your support!

We are so glad to add some new Southern Railway merchandise to the GRAB Store. Featuring several new collections of merchandise, we think all Southern fans

04/04/2026

The Southerner was introduced in 1941 as part of Southern's attempt at introducing new streamlined trains to the system. Although World War II prevented Southern from introducing any other all coach trains at this time, Southern also managed to also start the Tennessean from Washington to Memphis via Chattanooga.

The Southerner ran from New York to New Orleans via a slightly different route than the flagship Crescent train that held the same end points. The Southerner, after leaving the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks in Washington DC, would continue to New Orleans via an all-Southern Railway route. The Crescent left Southern tracks in Atlanta running via the A&WP/WofA to Montgomery, Alabama, where the L&N took the train the rest of the way to New Orleans. The Southerner took Southern's Birmingham Division line from Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama, and then down to New Orleans via the subsidiary AGS and NO&NE lines.

While the beautiful EMD E6's no longer grace the front of the train, the consist is largely similar in this 1967 photo, with one of the distinctive RPO cars behind the F3-E8 duo (4139-2927) leading the train. The Southerner would continue until 1970 when the Southerner and the Crescent combined to the Southern Crescent, taking the Southerner's route and the Crescent's sleeper consist until Southern exited passenger service in 1979.

Richard Baldwin Photo.

03/27/2026

We’re having a great time here at the Central Georgia Railroad Prototype Modelers meet in Macon! Stop by this afternoon or tomorrow if you’re in the area! 800+ models on display!

03/25/2026

Train No. 53 departs Inman Yards in Atlanta, bound for Macon, with Southern No. 1466 4-8-2 Ts taking the lead in June 1947. Just like No. 53, SRHA will be bound for Macon this weekend for the Central Georgia Railroad Prototype Modelers meet! If you're in the area be sure to stop by and check out the model displays and a variety of vendors. There is a full schedule of clinics happening throughout Friday and Saturday. See you there!

Oscar Kimsey Collection, SRHA Archives

03/19/2026

Come join us!

March 21 - Regional History Fair
Soddy Daisy High School, Soddy Daisy, TN
soddydaisymuseum.org/events

March 27 - 28 - Central Georgia Railroad Prototype Modelers
Lundy Chapel, Macon, GA
https://centralgarpm.com