Item 11 of 177 (4429)

"The Memphis & Charleston roundhouse was also known as the 'Huntsville Shops.' An adjacent engine house, car shop, and a machine shop were constructed to handle repairs and to rebuild the rolling stock. In addition to the extant passenger and freight depots, the M&CRR built Venable's Hotel on the site of the former Dilworth Lumber Company. During the Civil War, Union troops were drawn to Huntsville because of its transportation lines and frequently citizens saw locomotives marked 'USMRR'--United States Military Railroad. The city of Huntsville offered to buy and maintain the Memphis and Charleston shops, but the line closed them in 1876 and moved out when it merged with the Southern railway. The roundhouse in the background of this photo has been torn down."
"This photograph was made during the Federal occupation of Huntsville in 1864, and appears to have been taken from the second floor of the Huntsville Depot, looking north across the tracks to the present location of Southern Cotton Oil Company.. The locomotives bear the markings of the United States Military Railroad."
Date: unknown
Rights: Alabama Mosaic; Huntsville Madison County Public Library