The Middle Tennessee and Alabama Railway (MT&A) was a real railroad that existed in some form from 1887 until 1929. The railroad had ups and downs during its short existence. The MT&A was originally chartered as the Decatur, Chesapeake, and New Orleans (DC&NO) Railway in 1887. While this sounds like a grand idea and a very big idea in 1887, it really only required that a rail line be built from Gallatin, TN to Aberdeen, MS, which would have likely been 250 to 300 miles of track, depending upon the route taken. The DC&NO was successful in building several miles of track from Fayetteville, TN into Alabama, never reaching either of the desired ends. Financial trouble struck the DC&NO.

In 1893, a group of investors purchased the line and named it the Middle Tennessee and Alabama (MT&A). They were able to extend the line as far as Jeff, AL. Jeff was located northwest of Huntsville, AL and is known as Harvest today. Later the line was extended to the community of Capshaw, called Lax at the time. The line managed to make regular runs, carrying passengers and freight on a single mixed train. But by 1897, the MT&A was in financial trouble also.

In 1897, the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis (NC&StL) Railroad purchased the MT&A. At this time the line became a part of the Louisville & Nashville (L&N) family of lines. The NC&StL was able to generate enough traffic to keep the line working for several years. They were able to run a single train with mixed passenger and freight traffic. The train was usually a 2-8-0 Consolidation, 6 flat or box cars for cotton and other products, and a single passenger coach.

The NC&StL already had other lines that ran from their mainline to Decatur and to Huntsville, so this line became redundant. Due to the lack of revenue traffic, the NC&StL abandoned the line in 1929, before the depression actually hit. However, the tracks were not removed until the early 1930s. The right of way was sold to Tennessee and Alabama, each state transformed the roadbed into a state road, now known as “Old Railroad Bed Road”. This road still exists to this day.

Madison Crossroads is now called Toney, AL. However, the legacy remains in that there is Madison Crossroads Elementary and this depot that remains. Near this depot there are a few other buildings, now abandoned, that would have been there when the railroad ran through.