The more I wander and look at the things of our great Southland the more I realize that there are numerous different people out there that are historians on many things. Some know about and continually search for information on things like churches. For others it might be just a certain community, county, or region. The list goes on and on as to things that people know love and continually dig to find out more about.
One particular segment that rings a cord with many is railroads. For some it is railroads in general. For others it is a particular railroad line or even a particular line of a certain railroad.
For many the rich history of the L&N Railroad seems to bring out some incredible facts and memories. One such line is the L&N Line that ran from Flomation, Alabama to Selma, Alabama.
Being born in the late 1950’s and having relatives in, and spending much time at Beatrice, Al. I formed a lot of interest in the L&N Railroad myself.
I remember so many times the train coming through and us watching it. One of the highlights of that was going down to the tunnel at Tunnel Springs on Sunday afternoons when the train was going south and watching it go through the tunnel.
One interesting aspect of this railroad as I look back today is the fact that there were three long spurs off of this railroad in our area. To our north there was a spur from the area of Nadawah that went all the way into Camden. Then further southward on the line was the spur that ran from Cordoroy over to Vredenburgh. Finally further southward was the spur that ran from Monroe Station into Monroeville. There might have been other shorter spurs as well but if there are I have not seen them nor been able to find them on a map.
I purposely listed them from north to south because the southernmost spur is the one I wanted to discuss in this posting.
The spur from Monroe Station into Monroeville was an interesting spur to me anyway, for numerous reasons. In the early 1970’s we had a pasture at Monroe Station it was leased from Mr. Fred Sheffield. As a young teenager, my friend and I walked down that spur on numerous occasions to get to the pasture. The track switched right at the gate to our pasture.
If memory serves me correctly there were two sidings there or more. There was also two different switches on the railroad so that the train could switch in from either direction. By doing that the train could also switch in from one direction, pull past where the two tracks joined to make one. Then the switch could be thrown and it could back out onto the main line from the opposite side and be turned around on the mainline.
That was an interesting aspect of this spur to me. The spur at Cordoroy did the same thing and the one at Nadawah did also. From my understanding it had to be done that way to be serviceable by both north and south bound trains.
Once leaving the mainline at Monroe Station the train passed shortly over an overpass that crossed over the dirt road that led from Drewery Road to Monroe Station. That over pass stands to this date. It is a very small opening through which the road passes. It is a tight squeeze for about anything bigger than a small truck. This road was later named Hornady Drive when the 911 address system was implemented. There is an intersection in that road actually adjoining the road where this overpass crosses and the road under the overpass is named Deer Creek Road.
For many years it appears that there was nothing but woods and farmland that it traversed through from the main line until it got into Monroeville. In the early 1970’s Harrigan Lumber Company built a large sawmill that was on the railroad a little over halfway from the main line to Monroeville. Prior to this sawmill there was a saw mill out on Drewery Road in Monroeville. The railroad served that mill with a siding. That mill was closed in the mid to late 1960’s from the best understanding I can attain.
There was a siding that split off of the spur at Harrigan lumber and the railroad crossed what is now Hornady Drive just below the Harrigan Property and traveled a short distance parallel to that road and then crossed that road again where George Preyear Road intersects with it and paralleled it for a distance.
There was a siding that split off and went into the woodyard owned by Container Corp. There pulp wood trucks brought in short pulpwood and it was unloaded and stacked and then reloaded on to rail cars to be shipped to a paper mill south of Monroeville.
The spur line crossed Drewery Road just to the north of this woodyard and proceeded on towards town. It made a long arching circle on towards the location of the old Monroeville Stockyard. This stockyard closed sometime in the 1960’s as well.
The Highway 21 bypass was built around 1968. The railroad crossed it a short distance south of where Drewery Road crossed the bypass. There was a long siding or you might call it a short spur off that spurline that actually went in to the back side of the Arvin Industries factory that is now a business incubator building where businesses rent and do startups in to get established. There is also a truck driving school located there. The main spur crossed Drewery Rd again close to where the present Walker Street connects with Drewery Road and proceeded right behind the row of houses that sits along Drewery Road on one’s right heading in towards town.
It then crossed Ivey Street where the Monroeville Gin was located. Then crossing Hines Street. There were numerous places through this area along the railroad that could utilize it. The railroad crossed East Claiborne Street where the present Fire Station and Monroeville City Hall is located.
Finally it ended in the alley behind where Barnett and Jackson Hardware was located.
The Mainline L&N Railroad was built in 1900. This spur appears to have been built at the same time. It served till the mid 1960’s all the way into town. After that it slowly started to fade away as the track was removed into town in short increments. When the wood yard on Drewery Road closed that was one of the final businesses bringing it in as far as Drewery Road. It served Harrigan Lumber for several years longer.
The track is still laid for quite some distance up. The bushes and other undergrowth is now head high in many places where the tracks are still in place at. I am sure that it is only a matter of time before it is all removed and there will be little to any remnants of anything left reminding those looking of the existence of this spur.
The closing of the particle board mill long known as the Temple Mill was the final nail in the coffin for the L&N Line. It had held on as track was taken up north from Beatrice and then southward to Tunnel Springs.
Monroeville suffered a great loss by losing this railroad and the spur in when it was shut down. Although it was not being utilized it still held the potential for rail service should it be needed.
One thought I always had was why there never was a spur in from the Frisco Railroad that passed just a little to the west of Monroeville. In fact the Frisco passed closer than the L&N to town and was a mainline railroad as well.
For over half a century the L&N Spur served Monroeville bringing in goods and taking products out. Like so many other small towns in the US. that once flourished Monroeville slowly changed course and finally started to dwindle in need for rail service as truck freight service increased. This closed this romantic time of rail service for what appears to be forever.