Athens Depots

Two of Athens' depots survive. Shown above and below is the 1909 Southern Railway passenger station on Hoyt Street. Used for a time in the 1970s and 1980s as a restaurant and retail complex, it is currently a senior citizens center. (May 2013 photo).

The last passenger train left here in 1951. (May 2013 photo).

Also still standing is the 1891 Georgia, Carolina & Northern (later Seaboard Air Line Railway) depot (above) on Ware Street at College Avenue north of downtown. It is still in railroad use, but only by CSX train crews. The postcard image below shows the building in its passenger service days.
(Above photo May 2013).

Old postcard view of Athens Seaboard depot. View from trackside.

Seaboard Air Line Railway train at Athens depot

From: Seaboard Air Line Railway Shippers Guide, 1914. Online at
Internet Archive.

Seaboard's freight depot was in a building shared with the Gainesville Midland. Torn down in the 1980s, it stood on Broad Street at Foundry Street on the site now occupied by the rear of the Athens Banner-Herald building.

The Georgia Railroad depot, a combination freight and passenger station built in the 1880s on the east side of downtown, burned in 1985. The depot and the railroad's terminal yard were in the block now bounded by E. Broad, Willow, and Foundry streets (between the North Oconee River and the Classic Center). The site is now occupied by the Athens Multimodal Transportation Center.

Up the hill towards downtown was the Central of Georgia freight depot, also now gone. It sat just east of the intersection of Foundry Street and East Washington Street. The Central's passenger depot sat in a triangle formed by Mitchell Street and the existing railroad (between UGA's North Parking Deck and the Hodgson Oil Building). It burned in 1980.

Central of Georgia passenger depot at Athens, February, 1975. Photo by
Russell Ottens.

Athens scalehouse and Central of Georgia depot

Central of Georgia depot and scalehouse on a cloudy January 23, 1975. Photo by Russell Ottens.

Scalehouse near Athens' Central of Georgia depot

Close-up view of scales and scalehouse. January 23, 1975. Photo by Russell Ottens.

RailGa.com. Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. © Steve Storey

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