The L&N and Southern Freight Houses, 1960

This is a view of the Southern Railway freight house at 22nd Street, Birmingham, Alabama. In the middle of the photo, there is a walkway across the tracks that is used to move freight from one building to the other. Also, note the close clearance on the sides and overhead. There is a man walking from one car to another between the freight house in the center background. This gives some idea of the importance of having a fireman on the engine to warn the engineer of these conditions before coupling to the car. The cars spotted at the right side of the photo are at the L&N freight house. (This is the track you can see partly in exhibit O-20). Note also the box cars on the left side of the photo which are unloaded by trucks. There are men working around these cars and pedestrians who cut across the track to Morris Avenue from these buildings and warehouses. It is most important to have a fireman on the left side to watch for these conditions that an engineer could not see from the right side of the engine.