Tunnel Hill in Whitfield County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)
Baggage Carts
Photographed by Mark Hilton, November 19, 2019
1. Baggage Carts Marker
The Tunnel Hill Heritage Center & Museum is to the right.
Inscription.
Baggage Carts were one of the utilitarian devices used by almost all railroads to move goods and luggage around their depots. They received little more attention than the broom in the corner, but without them, the expediency of railroad freight service would have been severely compromised. From the beginning of railroading in America in the 1830s, there was the need for getting a passenger's luggage or a store owner's goods to and from the trains. Hand trucks, motorized trucks, conveyors, loading docks and more were utilized in the transfer of everything that went on or off a train. But the baggage cart was perhaps the most common of these forms of transfer. There were literally thousands of baggage carts in existence throughout the heyday of railroading. In addition to the railroads, baggage carts were owned and operated by transportation companies such as Wells Fargo and Railway Express and these carts would sit beside those of the railroads'. Hand powered carts gave way to motorized carts or trailers pulled by a variety of motorized vehicles. Even today baggage carts can be found at stations serving Amtrak's trains. Because baggage carts took a back seat to the trains themselves, little has been recorded of them and few photographs specifically highlighting the carts have been taken.
Baggage Carts were one of the utilitarian devices used by almost all railroads to move goods and luggage around their depots. They received little more attention than the broom in the corner, but without them, the expediency of railroad freight service would have been severely compromised. From the beginning of railroading in America in the 1830s, there was the need for getting a passenger's luggage or a store owner's goods to and from the trains. Hand trucks, motorized trucks, conveyors, loading docks and more were utilized in the transfer of everything that went on or off a train. But the baggage cart was perhaps the most common of these forms of transfer. There were literally thousands of baggage carts in existence throughout the heyday of railroading. In addition to the railroads, baggage carts were owned and operated by transportation companies such as Wells Fargo and Railway Express and these carts would sit beside those of the railroads'. Hand powered carts gave way to motorized carts or trailers pulled by a variety of motorized vehicles. Even today baggage carts can be found at stations serving Amtrak's trains.
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Because baggage carts took a back seat to the trains themselves, little has been recorded of them and few photographs specifically highlighting the carts have been taken.
Location. 34° 50.4′ N, 85° 2.52′ W. Marker is in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, in Whitfield County. It is on Clisby Austin Drive east of Oak Street, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 215 Clisby Austin Drive, Tunnel Hill GA 30755, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Georgia’s Mountains. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, November 19, 2019
2. Baggage Carts Marker is to the right of the shed.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 27, 2019. It was originally submitted on November 27, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 1,398 times since then and 98 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on November 27, 2019, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.
