my high school history teacher emma inman williams in jackson tn authored several books on west tenn history including at least one on civil war action on the mobile & ohio railroad. one anecdote that i remember was how the confederate snipers would lay up on the banks along the rail lines and take pot shots at the federal troops that rode the flat cars as guards. often they would tear up the tracks in order to stop the trains so they could capture badly needed supplies. gen. n.b. forrest secured much of his supplies in this manner. the public library in jackson has these books on file. chas young > -----Original Message----- > From: Red & Pat Anthony [mailto:redpata@artelco.com] > Sent: Friday, July 02, 1999 5:00 PM > To: TNGIBSON-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [TNGIBSON-L] Vicki hates that she mentioned trains! > > > One more story and I will quit: > The amazing thing about the railroad industry is how fast it > grew and how well built the structures were. Some of them still > in use today are well over 100 years old. Lots of the bridges and > tressels were built in the 1800s. The subway system in New York > City was built around 1890, but the most durable has been the > Chicago El. It was finished and opened in October, 1893. El means > Elevated, and the steel infrastructure that supports the track, > two stories off the ground, hasn't changed since it was built. > The El forms a 2 mile loop around downtown Chicago before > branching off to different destinations. Since the early 1900s, > about 1600 trains a day make the loop. OK, Vicki, I'm outta > here,,,,,,,,,Red Anthony > ,,,,,,,,Red = > Anthony >