Railroads of Chattanooga, TN (Images of Rail Series)

Founded in 1803 at the site of Ross's Landing on the Tennessee River, Chattanooga was once a small settlement centered around a trading post run by John Ross, who was the leader of the Cherokee nation at the time. In 1836, the State of Georgia chartered the Western and Atlantic Railroad to connect the village of Marthasville (now Atlanta) with the river port at Chattanooga. Within the next twenty years, additional railroad companies would link Chattanooga with all of the major cities in the country. These connections would prove to be vital to the Confederate effort during the Civil War and would make Chattanooga the prime target of numerous military actions on both sides, the most famous being the Andrews Raid of 1862. Railroads of Chattanooga celebrates the history of Chattanooga as a major Southeastern railroad hub and the employees, engines, and events that have made it what it is today.

Author Alan A. Walker is the historian for the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, a position he has held for nearly ten years. A longtime resident of Chattanooga, Walker specializes in research on the historical development of the region's railroads.