One of the few bits of railroad history left in downtown Atlanta was torn down last week when wrecking crews came for the former Southern Railway Terminal South tower, one of the last surviving parts of the great Terminal Station that closed in 1972, itself razed for a Federal Building in 1979.
While the brick structure was not in danger of fire, a number of large cracks had opened up on the walls and it could be assumed that the tower was less than structurally sound.
Unlike the Northeast and industrial Midwest, the South and West never featured large numbers of tower, especially high quality non-combustable ones with power interlocking machines. A Georgia Rail history website could only list three surviving towers in the state, a number now reduced to two. The Terminal South tower had also anchored the railfanning scene in the city and it is unknown at this time what might be able to replace it what with the unrelated re-signaling efforts that have been going on.
Correction: Terminal Station closed in 1970 and was razed in 1972. The Richard Russell Federal Building was built on the same site in 1979.
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