Jacob and I paid a visit to the Railroad Museum in Savannah this week. It is a National Historic Landmark site, and they have a large collection of steam engines in their Roundhouse. This is the site of the workshops and terminal of the Old Central of Georgia railroad. They began building a railroad in the 1830’s between Savannah and Macon in order to quickly move cotton to the ports in Savannah. By 1840 it was a busy, productive railroad, and the shops at Savannah were kept busy. They could do everything on-site with blacksmith shops, woodworking, painting, even leatherworks. During the Civil War on Sherman’s famous March to the Sea through Georgia the Union troops pulled up miles of railroad lines. They piled the ties into large bonfires, and then they threw the metal lines on the fire until hot, and then bent them around trees. There is one as an example in the garden on site. The company never really recovered after the Civil War, and then when the switch from steam to diesel came during the Great Depression, there was no longer a need for all the shops. The site stood derelict for many years. I remember going there for a flower show 10 years ago, with the stalls set up in the many empty stalls. It has only been open as a museum for 3-4 years.
-
The Roundhouse.
-
They once could house 30 steam engines.
-
Wheels taller than Jacob!
-
A whole display of Hobo symbols.
-
We found the Hobo symbols interesting.
-
There was a garden behinds the roundhouse. The workers grew vegetables here too, and it was a quiet place to rest.
-
The smokestack was the tallest thing around for many years.
-
Jacob liked all the big machinery.
-
A ride on a steam engine.
-
The turntable still works very smoothly.
