Columbus, Mississippi

In the Columbus rail map above, the original Columbus & Greenville (1923) mainline running northwest out of Columbus is marked in orange. This was the original route to Greenville across the Tombigbee River developed by the Georgia Pacific and later the Southern Railway Company in Mississippi. This river crossing route was used by the C&G until 1983, when the bridge was removed for the Tennessee-Tombigbee River Project and thus the shortline diverted its cross-state traffic to the southwest over the former Mobile & Ohio mainline to Artesia — here marked in green. After the Illinois Central Gulf era, this line would become the Gulf & Mississippi, later MidSouth, and now Kansas City Southern. The former C&G mainline to the northwest now dead-ends in North Columbus and is only used to switch customers on that side of town.

The former Southern Railway mainline, connecting Columbus to Birmingham, Alabama, is here marked in red. The westernmost 30 miles of this line are operated by sister shortline Luxapalila Valley Railroad. This shortline was developed by CAGY Industries when the Norfolk Southern chose to remove this segment from its sytem. Like the C&G, the Luxapalila Valley 2008 was purchased by Genesee & Wyoming. Other routes shown above but unmarked include: the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (former Frisco) mainline running north and south; the Kansas City Southern (former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio) mainline running east to Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and the Golden Triangle shortline, accessing Columbus from the southwest via a connection at West Lowndes.

The Columbus passenger station was erected in 1886 by the Georgia Pacific Railroad, predecessor to the Southern Railway Company in Mississippi. After the Columbus & Greenville Railway became an independent railroad in 1923, the station was shared by the C&G and the Southern Railway. C&G trains operated westward to Greenville and points in between, and the daily Southern train operated eastward from Columbus to Birmingham, Alabama. The depot also served as the corporate offices of the C&G until a modern building was erected in 1978 near the roundhouse and shops. Although the service tracks are long gone, the building itself still stands today and is recognizable.

For decades the company office for the Columbus & Greenville was maintained downtown in the passanger depot (above). In 1978, however, the railroad built a new office facility just south of 3rd Avenue and the shop/roundhouse facility, adjacent to the southbound leg of the wye.

Extending off the southwest corner of the Columbus roundhouse is the formidable machine shop building. Erected in 1908 by the Southern Railway Company in Mississippi, the C&G inherited the facility in 1923 and for decades used it to maintain and rebuild its entire steam locomotive fleet ... not to mention rolling stock and other equipment. The last steamer overhauled in the shop was Ten-wheeler #178 (see below), out-shopped in 1948 and now on display in Propst Park elsewhere in Columbus. Nevertheless, the historic machining equipment was kept in good use throughout the diesel era, keeping the Baldwins, Whitcombs, and EMD fleets in good working order. A secondary wooden shop building sat just the south of the main shop at least through 1917, but was later demolished. Baldwin #601 currently sits on permanent display in the same location.

The hub of C&G operations in Columbus has always been a wye track arrangement, with each leg of that wye either leading to the C&G westward mainline (later relocated) or to one of several interchange connections in town. At the center of the wye stands an impressive 10-stall roundhouse building, each stall accessible by rail via an 80' turntable. Built by the Southern Railway in Mississippi in 1908, the Columbus roundhouse has housed and serviced every batch of Delta Route motive power that the road has ever owned — Ten-wheelers, Mikados, Baldwins, Whitcombs, Geeps, and the rest. Although the roundhouse still stands today, looking much the same as always, as of 2020 there are signs of structural failure along some of the exterior walls and roofline.

Adjacent to the Columbus roundhouse is an 80-foot long "Armstrong" turntable for rotating locomotives and equipment, "Armstrong" referring to the lack of electrical-mechanical equipment for turning the span and its passenger. Throughout the steam era, the table was turned by hand by shop personnel. In the diesel era, a tractor has been used for turning power.

The southwestern leg of the wye around the Columbus & Greenville roundhouse leads to the former Mobile & Ohio interchange point. Here the C&G connected to the M&O's mainline between Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Artesia, Mississippi. This east-west route would later go to the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio, then Illinois Central Gulf, then Gulf & Mississippi (later MidSouth), and is now a part of the Kansas City Southern system. In 1983 the C&G shifted their own mainline traffic from the original Georgia Pacific route through Waverly (see below) to this route, sending their trains west to Artesia then north to West Point before returning to the original C&G mainline west of West Point. Today the junction in south Columbus is known on the KCS as Control Point "C&G Junction."

The original mainline of the Columbus & Greenville began with the western leg of the wye around the roundhouse facility. A portion of the line still exists, turning north from the wye and paralleling Railroad Street until dead-ending just south of Military Road (just south of U.S. 82). This segment remains in service to switch Columbus Brick Company, shown below. After Military Road, the former mainline turned to the northwest, paralleling part of Bluecutt Road before crossing Moore Creek. Remains of the defunct Moore Creek trestle are shown below. Form here, the former mainline crossed U.S. 45 and made a straight northwesterly approach to the Tombigbee River bridge and on to the town of Waverly. The bridge was removed in 1983 as a part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee River widening project.