Next Stop…Decatur found this great pic of the Decatur Depot from 1987 over on RailPictures.net.
Any good stories about the Depot when it still operated as a train stop would be most welcome!
Maybe we’ll become so nostalgic that we’ll be compelled to raise another $100,000 to move it back a few feet!
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This was at the height of popularity of The Freight Room as a Decatur eating establishment and music venue. The state of Georgia ran the New Georgia Railroad on excursions from Underground Atlanta to Stone Mountain, stopping to pick up passengers at The Freight Room. Steam Engine 750, in the picture, was refurbished to pull the passenger cars for the outing that departed the Georgia Freight Depot at Underground, stopped in Decatur, and circled Stone Mountain before returning to downtown Atlanta. We hosted a huge inaugural party at The Freight Room for the New Georgia Railroad, and our guest of honor was then-Congressman Ben Jones. What fun!
Wow…that does sound fun! I assume they were still running freight along that line at the same time?
Thanks for the insight Alice!
Thanks to former Gov Zell Miller for seeing to the end of that popular operation. He said the state shouldn’t be in the tourist railroad business. Ironically, that’s exactly what we have now in south Georgia.
I remember this time! I was underage and sneaking into Tracksides and the Freight Room was the coolest thing ever. I am old.
I spent many a great evening at the Freight Room. Often wondered who the young kid was!
Yeah, I was actually only 3 but in to acoustic music and bourbon.
There was a great Southern Bicycle League ride that left every Saturday from the Freight Room and usually ended up with a lot of beer and socializing afterward. I think it continued even after the Freight Room closed as a restaurant but probably was never as popular minus the beer and socializing.
Hoo-lawdy, I remember this. I was a sophomore at Agnes Scott and living in Hopkins dorm, the closest building on campus to the train. I had gotten used to that window-rattling, phone-conversation-interrupting, bone-shaking diesel horn, but when I heard a steam whistle sound one Saturday morning, it was a weird anachronistic moment. What century was this again?
And how I loved the Freight Room–Atlanta’s mecca for acoustic musicians for many years. I’d walk over there from campus on Sunday nights and eat apple pie with cheddar cheese and ice cream and listen to Cyndi Craven and Tom Wolf (known together as “Chase the Moon”). I was a huge fan but too shy to introduce myself. Never could I have imagined then that twenty-some-odd years later they’d be two of my best friends and that I’d be playing music with them on stages all over the area!
Chase the Moon’s one and only recording has just been re-released and is available on itunes. If any of y’all are fans of theirs from the good old FR days, here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/kwoy3c
Thanks for the trip down the memory line, DM!