Mileposts

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In more cases than not, mileposts on branchlines of the Southern Railway
were, and still are,   made up of a number preceded by one or more letters.
For example, the branch from Lula, Ga. to Athens, Ga.  was a predecessor
railroad of Southern Railway known in the old days as the Northeast
Georgia Railroad.  Consequently, each milepost between Lula and Athens
has a letter prefix  "NE".    Commerce, Ga. is  MP NE 21, and Athens at the
end of the branch is  NE 39.     In preparing switch lists for train crews,
all cars destined for Commerce were marked "NE 21"  and cars for Athens
were marked "NE 39"   The crews instinctivly    knew the meaning of all
station numbers.    If a car was marked   "484"   that is the milepost number
for Greenville, S.C., which meant    it was a north car and was to be lined
up for a northbound man to pick up.    Everything marked "637"  was to
be lined up south as that is the milepost location for Atlanta.    If a car
was marked "GM"   that car was to be placed on the  CSX delivery track
at the interchange, which was a carryover from the old days of the
Gainesville Midland.  Bill Sellers