The photos above show the nature of the grade
separation with the underpasses and retaining walls. There are three
1920's vintage viaducts in this area, and the second photo shows the 22nd Street
viaduct. Almost all of the buildings in this view date from before
1930. The third photo shows the elevated passenger station platform of the
L & N Station that replaced the old train shed when the grade separation was
built in 1930. The platforms are reached by stairways and the waiting room
is underneath, below grade. This is currently serving Amtrak's Crescent
from Washington to New Orleans, shown in the fourth and fifth photos.
On the model railroad, the 12" wide fold up shelf
fills in the space in front of the elevated grade separation track and this
front, lower level represents the tracks that parallel the grade separation from
Morris Avenue to about 5th Avenue South. In this area the Seaboard came
into downtown, and along with the Birmingham Belt Railroad along E Street, now
5th Avenue South served industrial customers south of downtown. When
the main tracks were raised and the viaducts built in the 1920's this created
some interesting areas with massive retaining walls. A check of the big
map shows the nature of the commercial customers here and who the freight
stations belonged to.
These photos show some of the key elements to model in
this area south of the grade separation. Going left to right, one sees the
two Seaboard Air Line tracks that are below the 24th Street viaduct in the
foreground and the 22nd Street viaduct in the background. Next is another
view of the depressed track, with retaining walls passing beneath the 21st and
22nd Street viaducts. The large brick building in the third photo is the
old Birmingham Electric Company powerhouse, which served to power the streetcar
system. As the street sign shows, we are at 1st Avenue South, at 19th
Street.
The brick building is the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast
freight house, near interstate 65 at the south end of this area, and is actually
on the north side of the grade separation. The gray building with the
overhang and the arched doors is the Seaboard Air Line freight house which now
serves Alagasco as an office and community meeting space. The last photo
shows the types of buildings that will be used for "flats" to disguise
the "north" end of the grade separation area on the upper level, to
hide the staging yard. The elements of this scene are going to be freely
"compressed" and even mixed around as far as location. Part of
the fun is the ability to "break the rules" when modeling. I am
not a rivet counter. Rather, I am interested in capturing the character of
a scene, much as a caricature cartoon captures the subject.
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