The recently restored Bridgeport Depot museum is located along
the CSX (L&N/NC&StL) main. NS (Southern) also had trackage
rights on this track. The depot is also at the junction with the
Sequatchie Valley Railroad. The depot is now open 5 days a week:
Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9:00 am --1:00 pm and Sundays
1:00-5:00 p.m. Free tours.
Adjacent
to the museum, the foundation of the freight railroad remains.
The museum will contain local artifacts and railroad memorabilia,
and a historical research library for Bridgeport and area history
buffs as well as genealogy buffs. There are records that go back
to 1807, Bridgeport News issues back to 1891, Post Office records,
tax records, business charge account ledgers, War Between the States
records, and much more.
At Bridgeport, AL. the Chattanooga Division crosses the Tennessee
River on two spans and connects with the Sequatchie Valley Branch.
Bridgeport has the most unusual Station on the entire line; a magnificent
Spanish Mission style structure that looks for the entire world
is if it came from the Santa Fe RR. After suffering two recent fires,
the station is now restored to its former glory and houses another
RR museum. CSX RR has built another bridge parallel to the old one,
which dated from the end of the Civil War. The old bridge is to
be preserved and used as a walking trail.
Nearing
Chattanooga, the land is largely flat after the crossing of the
river at Bridgeport, and here speeds often reached 90 MPH in steam
days.
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