| By: | Hank Stephens |
| Dates: | 1/1/1974 - 1/1/1974 |
| Album Info: | After the IC-GM&O merger, ICG unit freely mixed with GM&O power in Alabama. GM&O was the original railroad in the state, entering in from Tuscaloosa, AL where it headed southeast to Montgomery, AL to interchange with the AWP-WofA and the old CofGA lines. A second main line came into Birmingham, and this was the usual haunt of the ex GM&O six axle SD40 units. By the late 80s, the ICG garage sale saw the Montgomery line cut back all the way to Tuscaloosa, with Norfolk Southern taking over a section in Prattville to serve the Union Camp paper mill. Further sale and retrenchment removed ICG from Birmingham and the Gulf & Missisppi RR (GMSR) took the rest of the former GM&O lines. Unless you went to Mobile, the ICG was only a memory. This album shows what one would have found on these now long gone operations. These pictures were taken by Glenn at the Frisco East Thomas yard, (now BNSF East Thomas Yard ) along Finley Avenue. ICG used trackage rights to enter Birmingham proper and piggybacked its terminal operations with those of the Frisco--later Burlington Northern RR. |
