GP38AC 639 at Mobile, Alabama in May 1975.
The locomotive is sitting on the south yard lead and drill track at Mobile Yard (MP 873.5). The body of the yard is to the north (left) of this location. The engineer is facing to the right the diverging yard ladder switch stands. Although the yard is double ended, the north end has a very short lead. It serves mainly as an escape track for inbound power or attaching an outbound caboose, but due to its short length it was not very useful for drilling the yard tracks from the north.
This is the former Alabama, Tennessee and Northern (AT&N) facility north of the downtown central business district. For the last five miles, access in and out of the railroad’s facilities was by trackage rights over the Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks (TASD). From Terminal Junction (MP 868.5) the route crossed the Southern Railway (MP 686.6) and the TASD’s Three Mile Creek drawbridge (MP 870.6).
Back on home rails the final approach to the yard included a sharp “U” shaped curve, turning inbound train’s direction from south to north northwest. The yard is bounded on the north by Three Mile Creek, a navigable industrial canal off Three Mile Creek to the east and to the south and west by Telegraph Road. This photograph was taken from the latter.
Left of the locomotive’s nose is the sand tower at the Mechanical Department’s locomotive service tracks. The facilities were very modest at this location, limited to fuel, sand and basic supplies. Adjacent was a small freight car RIP (repair in place) track facility. They were near the mid-southeast corner of the property. Access by rail was from the north off the south yard ladder. They were just northeast of the freight house.
In the background on the right is the northwest corner of the freight house. The building’s offices are on the south end. Like the body of the yard, the freight house axis runs north northwest to south southeast. The facility’s address is 701 Telegraph Road, Mobile, AL 36610. This building still stands and is the local office for the Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway (AGR).
The view is looking east.
Special thanks to Mark Davidson.
