BY THE WAY, THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP... i have just inherited to champagne, or ice buckets. made by reed barton silversmiths. each bucket carries side inscription: "the west point route." any idea how i might be able to date them, and on which line they may have been. i apologize for being "ignorant" about the lines, but i do recognize class, and they two have tons of that! again, thanks for any input...sam -------------------------

-- sam howard (myoldtoy@planters.net), April 05, 2003

Answers

The West Point Route consisted of two separate railroads, the Atlanta & West Point running southwest from Atlanta to the Alabama border and the Western of Alabama that ran from the Georgia border through Montgomery to Selma. The two lines had a corporate connection with the Georgia Railroad and ultimately merged into the Seaboard Coast Line (now CSX). You could try checking with the ACL/SAL Historical Society to see if they can give you any other information about these items.

-- Bill Nelson (gnspouselaw@erols.com), April 08, 2003.

For a time, the crack Atlanta-Montgomery segment of the famous 'Cresent' passenger train was run over the West Point Route. Trains were running along this trackage some years before the Civil War,and tradition has it that the very first 'Stars and Bars' (Confederate) flag was unfurled from the rear of a train on this route in the vicinity of Fairburn/Palmetto ,Ga. My grandfather was a lifelong WPR employee.

-- Greg Hodges (ghodges@smpsfa.com), April 10, 2003.