End of Line Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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This is a micro cache magnetic keyholder.When placed it contained:Log sheet. Park at N34 46.765 W087 40.026 Take path North Note there is a Benchmark nearby if you log them.
Railroading in Alabama started as a short railroad to bypass the Shoals in the 1830's. Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee River often prevented ship traffic, so freight could be loaded onto the railroad at one end and reloaded onto another ship at the other end.
The railroad was eventually expanded into the Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur, which in turn became part of the Memphis & Charleston (which actually linked Memphis and Chattanooga) in the 1850's.
As part of the railroad's charter in Alabama the railroad was allowed to bridge the Tennessee River on its main line at either Florence or Decatur, but if the railroad chose Decatur for the main's crossing it was required to build a bridge and a branch into Florence. The railroad chose the option of crossing at Decatur with a Florence branch.
This bridge was built with two levels, railroad on the top and roadway at the bottom. The tracks are still in place on top (but fenced off) and the cache is reached on the lower level.
The M&C eventually became part of the Southern, which became part of Norfolk Southern in the 1980's.
In the late 1800's a branch was built into Florence from the northeast, which was eventually taken over by the Louisville & Nashville.
The bridge was built in a time when locomotives and freight cars was small and light by modern standards. Railroads using modern equipment had to be careful that too much weight was not placed on any one place on the bridge. L&N could run two diesel electric switch engines across the bridge with the addition of a spacer car, a flat car with carried the connections between the locomotives. With the spacer car the weight of the two locomotives was safely distributed over a greater distance.
Since Florence had rail service from the north the bridge became less important, although L&N and Southern interchanged freight across the bridge (and the Southern had a passenger station in Florence, which is still standing at the time of this note).
In the 1980's the former L&N line became part of the Tennessee Southern, a new shortline railroad. The rail connection across the river was severed (shortlines are often set up so that they only connect with the railroad that sells off the line). The lift span section of the bridge was removed and after over a century trains stopped crossing the Tennessee River between Florence and Sheffield.
The street leading south from the parking lot next to the bridge is located on the former railroad bed. When you drive on this street you are travelling along the route used by steam locomotives before the Civil War.
Thanks to the cacher L&N Railroad for the history on this location.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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