Macon's Steam Locomotive Central of Georgia No. 509, a 2-8-0 built by Baldwin in 1906, is on outdoor display at the entrance to Macon's Central City Park. Unfortunately, it stands as one of the few reminders of the role that the railroad played in the city's development. Although the Central's headquarters were in Savannah, the true center of the company's 20th-century maintenance operations was downtown Macon. Here were major locomotive and railcar repair facilities along with railyards that saw freight coming from all directions. These facilities, which stood in the area now bounded roughly by 5th Street, 7th Street, Bay Street, and Poplar Street, are now gone, replaced by a desolate landscape known as the city's Brownfields Project. The only remaining structure of note is the coaling tower alongside 7th Street.   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home