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.

The line left Fayetteville from a small rail yard where a wye was used to turn trains. The line roughly followed what is now US Hwy 64 to Old Elkton Pike and then to Old Railroad Bed Road. The line basically followed the Elk River from Fayetteville, crossing the river at Sumners Bend, to Cold Water, TN. At Cold Water, the line turned south toward Taft.

Once in Alabama, the line proceeded south with several whistle stops or flag stops. At Clark (Clarkdale), about 4 miles south of Jeff (Harvest), the line varied from what is today Old Railroad Bed Road. The railroad line more closely followed Copperrun Branch, a small stream in the area. The line terminated on what is now Dupree-Worthy Road, near the intersection with Capshaw Road. Presently the Capshaw Baptist Church is located about where the Capshaw depot was located.

• Fayetteville
• Harmes
• Tillman
• De Ford
• Sumners Bend
• Hobbs
• Cold Water
• Blanche
• Taft

• Akers
• Elkwood Section
• Bobo Section
• Ready Section
• Madison Crossroads (Toney)
• Jeff (Harvest)
• Clark (Clarkdale)
• Lax (Capshaw)

The line was only nine miles from the Memphis and Charleston Railroad near Belle Mina, AL. However, the L&N already had a mainline that ran to Decatur from Nashville, through Franklin and Lewisburg. There was also a branch line that ran from Decherd, TN to Huntsville, AL. The line into Fayetteville was a branch off the Huntsville Branch, so the MT&A was a branch of the Huntsville Branch. There was little to no value for the NC&StL to continue to MT&A to Belle Mina.

The line was about 37 miles long at its greatest length. The NC&StL applied on July 21, 1928 to discontinue service along the MT&A railroad. By March 8, 2929, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted permission. It was on April 20, 1929, that the last train to use the line rolled into Fayetteville, bringing with it all the rolling stock and other equipment used along the line.

The first thing is the right of way, or at least most of it. Old Railroad Bed Road in Tennessee and Alabama follows the old right of way. The road does vary from the original right of way south of Clark (Clarkdale) and proceeds south down the county line to Madison, AL.

The second thing that still exists is the Madison Crossroads Depot. It still stands in Toney, AL, along Old Railroad Bed Road. There also a few builds just north of the depot that may have been there at the time the railroad was operating.

The third thing that still exists is a rock wall. This wall was built by the railroad at the intersection of Dan Crutcher Road and Old Railroad Bed Road. It was used to pool water at the spring there so that the locomotives could take on water for their journey. There are rumors of a robbery that occurred near the spring and that there could be gold from the robbery deep in the cave from which the spring rises.

The depot at Lax (Capshaw) stood for many years after the railroad was abandoned. In the 1980s the volunteers of the North Alabama Railroad Museum took down the depot and stored it. My understanding is that after many years of storage, the depot wood was no longer useable and was discarded.

There was a bridge across the Elk River that stood for many years as well. I have seen pictures of the bridge from as late as the 1940s. I see no evidence that the bridge still exists today, in 2025. I suspect that the bridge was probably removed during road updates or possibly during a flood.

• NC&StL Old Railroad Bed Article