Eye on the Street
Decatur Metro | April 6, 2016 | 11:40 am
East College Ave, Decatur GA (pic courtesy of Chris)
East College Ave, Decatur GA (pic courtesy of Chris)
SCrews
J_T
Chris Billingsley
Chris Billingsley
Smith
Momster
At Home in Decatur
Macarolina
Christy
Momster
Chris Billingsley
Robert
Thanks Nick. I remember reading in FFAF a few weeks ago about a train stopped over the Comerce Street underpass. I was lucky enough to snap a pic while waiting for the light to change on my way home from working in south DeKalb. Seems like the county recently adjusted the light so that people driving into Decatur from South DeKalb don’t wait as long as they use to. If so, kudos to the county traffic engineers.
Some remember back in the day before Commerce and the bridge were built when north bound traffic backed up to the seminary. This intersection, along with Sam’s Crossing, must have looked like College and South McDonough. Maybe there’s a picture of the old intersections somewhere.
It’s a good looking bridge, and I’ve always liked the “Georgia Railroad” lettering but I perfer the older railroad bridges like the one near the Ponce Market/Old Sears Building and the classic concrete bridge at Ponce and Scott. The Ponce Market bridge is safe but I won’t be surprised if the Ponce Scott bridge is replaced in a few years.
In my opinion, Decatur is lucky to have the railroad and I still enjoy getting stopped by a passing train. Sometimes I’ll wave at the conductor. When I was a kid growing up in Decatur, we use to do this a lot, wave at the conductor and hope he would blow that mighty horn. Do kids still do this?
Yes! Our kids (6 & 9) still wave and the engineers still wave back and lay on the horn! Thrilling for kids and for this adult too!
There was a time in the idyllic past when you could sit on the porch of Jake’s Ice Cream (now Revival restaurant) with your little ones and watch and hear the train.
Sometimes I get caught by the train during a run. Even though it breaks my stride, I enjoy standing so near such a massive machine. The little kid in me rejoices.
No problem Chris. Appreciate the photos, as always!
Our son still waves at the conductor too. 🙂
The train made Atlanta. One can’t really appreciate the uniqueness of Atlanta without understanding topography and the trains that follow it.
Related: did you happen to see that “fall line cities” link I put up yesterday? It explains the location of a variety of GA cities. Here’s an excerpt…
“The city of Columbus, for example, was established where the Chattahoochee River crosses the fall line; Macon, Milledgeville, and Augusta are similarly located at the crossings of the Ocmulgee, Oconee, and Savannah rivers, respectively. These cities became important transportation hubs because traders could only travel upstream until they reached the waterfalls of the fall line. At that point they were forced to disembark and reload their cargo on the other side of the falls in order to continue their journeys.”
So cool.
If you look at physical/topo maps, the fall line can be followed through most major early southern Cities not on the coast, between Piedmont and Coastal Plain—In addition to those in Georgia, you can follow it in an “J hook” shape—from Selma to Montgomery, Columbia, Raleigh, Petersburg and Richmond.
Thanks Nick and yes I read the post about Fall Line Cities. My first real experience with the fall line was sometime in the late Seventies while taking a class at Georgia State on historic preservation. Much of the nation was in a severe heat wave and the nighttime temperature in Georgia stayed above 80 degrees. Part of the class required field trips to several cities to experience the historic preservation taking place. One such city was Columbus. The students and professor (maybe Tim Crimmons?) squeezed into a Ga State van early Saturday morning and headed south along I85. Now I had learned about the fall line in Geography class at STM but having someone in the van point out the hilly topography around Warm Springs and then flat land well, it all made sense.
But this story is not really about historic preservation or the fall line. Yes I learned all about the effort to restore the opera house and preserve the old cotton mills and Victorian neighborhoods (mostly in air conditioned structures) but it was the trip back that was most memorable. It was late and the crew convinced the leaders to stop at a store for some snacks and beer. It was damn hot, over 100 degrees so drinking two PBR tallboys quickly was easy. We piled back into the van and someone shouted, “Crank up the AC!”. The driver said, “Sorry, the AC isn’t working.” Silence! To make matters worse, the windows in the back were the pop out kind so there was very little air movement. Now the temperature outside may have been 105 but inside, it felt literally like Hell. Sweat was poring down and soon, my shirt was glued to my skin. Some smart aleck said, “When we reach the Fall Line, the temperature should drop a few degrees.” Yeah, from 175 to 170. Big Whoop.
That was the longest drive I ever had but I did learn about the Fall Line. And I’m glad I live in Decatur and not Columbus.