Z-Line Relic
The Pickens Railways Belton Job works the NS interchange in Anderson before heading east for Belton. The structure you see to the left is a remnant of the former Southern Railway passenger station in Anderson, which is one of the more unique stations you’ll find for a small town. The original operator of the line, the Blue Ridge Railway, built a cut through downtown Anderson to allow them direct access to the town with three bridges connecting the north & south ends of town. After the original station burned down in 1914, the Southern would build a new station at street level where passengers would take an elevator & staircase down to the 2 track station platform. The station would close in 1945, with local businesses expanding & covering the cut, leaving only the small opening you see the locomotive along with the platform & where the elevators would bring passengers down to.
The platform was my main target for this trip to the Pickens, but the real treat was getting to be under the city with these 2 GE U18B’s while they worked back & forth to switch the interchange. Hearing the 2 GE 7FDL V8’s chugging at high revs next to me as they echoed off the cut walls & the ceiling of the bridge above me was quite the experience. 10-24-24
Z-Line Relic
The Pickens Railways Belton Job works the NS interchange in Anderson before heading east for Belton. The structure you see to the left is a remnant of the former Southern Railway passenger station in Anderson, which is one of the more unique stations you’ll find for a small town. The original operator of the line, the Blue Ridge Railway, built a cut through downtown Anderson to allow them direct access to the town with three bridges connecting the north & south ends of town. After the original station burned down in 1914, the Southern would build a new station at street level where passengers would take an elevator & staircase down to the 2 track station platform. The station would close in 1945, with local businesses expanding & covering the cut, leaving only the small opening you see the locomotive along with the platform & where the elevators would bring passengers down to.
The platform was my main target for this trip to the Pickens, but the real treat was getting to be under the city with these 2 GE U18B’s while they worked back & forth to switch the interchange. Hearing the 2 GE 7FDL V8’s chugging at high revs next to me as they echoed off the cut walls & the ceiling of the bridge above me was quite the experience. 10-24-24