| Annual Report of the Tennessee &
Alabama RR |
| as of July 1, 1866, |
| President's Report |
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| President's Report |
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| To the stockholders of the Tennessee
& Alabama Railroad Company: |
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| Gentlemen, |
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In compliance with the requirements of your charter, the
board of directors submit the following report of the condition and
operations of the road for the year ending June 30, 1866:
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| At the last annual meeting of
the stockholders of your road had been in possession of the Federal
government ever since March, 1862, and was, at the time of your
meeting in August last, controlled and operated by military authority.
The passenger and freight houses near Broad street, in Nashville,
together with your railroad office at that place, on Sumner street,
had all been removed or destroyed, and your depot grounds at that
place were principally covered and occupied by an immense warehouse,
known as the Taylor depot, erected by military authority of the
federal government, in which were deposited military stores. Your
workshops, engine-house, and all the machinery and tools from your
workshops, had been removed by military authority, and the houses
taken down for the use of the government, as we understand. |
| Our railroad bars, which had
been taken up from the track and brought together at the junction with
the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad for the purpose of being sent
to Atlanta to be rerolled, were taken by the government, as we
understand, for casemating the fortifications. The new rails, which
had been but recently rerolled, a part of which were at the station
near the workshops, and a portion at Columbia, were likewise taken and
used for some purpose. Nearly all of the station-houses, depot
buildings, water-tanks, &c., along the line of the road, had been
either removed or destroyed. |
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Many of the bridges were destroyed during the war, and at
that time were supplied with temporary structures, and since a better
class of bridges have been constructed, but not equal to our former
substantial bridges, made of stout and durable materials. The present
bridge across Duck river is a dock bridge, in the place of an elevated
through bridge as formerly, and on account of its distance above
water, is liable to be carried off by extreme high water.
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On that portion of the road from Columbia to Mount
Pleasant, the entire superstructure has been removed by the authority
of the federal government, in the year 1864, including all the rails,
frogs, switches, spikes, and cross-ties. We think it was done to
repair or to rebuild some other road. After the road was taken
possession of by military authority, nearly our entire rolling stock,
including cars and locomotives, have been lost or destroyed. The
locomotive Franklin, while in the use of the federal authority, was
blown up. The Columbia is nearly worn out and useless. The other four
locomotives have been or are now being repaired. Two of the, we
believe, have been in use for some time. Only two or three cars of any
use have ever been recovered out of our entire original stock. Many of
the rails were badly worn on account of the great number of heavy
locomotives and large trains which had passed over the track between
March, 1862 and September, 1865, and such rails as were most damaged
have been taken up and other rails substituted in their place. Some
rails now require to be replaced with new ones. Such is a brief
history of what was the situation and condition of your road, as
regards the original property thereof, when you elected the board of
direction in August last. *****
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John S. Claybrooke, President
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{All of the company's books and records were
destroyed or mutilated in Nashville.}
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