Belt Line passes through "No Man's Land" to a crossing of Chattanooga Creek, St. Elmo Avenue and Broad Street
Belt Line heads east to a crossing of Alton Park Boulevard before veering toward the National Cemetery
Charles James, who was always pictured wearing a derby hat, was the mastermind behind the Belt Line and other local railroads
Spur off the Belt Line to the J.H. Allison packing plant
Heading for the crossing of Chattanooga Creek
photo by John Wilson
Trestle over Chattanooga Creek
photo by John Wilson
Looking toward St. Elmo Avenue
photo by John Wilson
Belt Line crossing at St. Elmo Avenue
photo by John Wilson
At St. Elmo Avenue, main Belt Line is at the left and side track at the right
photo by John Wilson
Side track near St. Elmo Avenue
photo by John Wilson
Side track is overgrown
photo by John Wilson
Belt Line side track at St. Elmo Avenue comes together with the main Belt Line track near South Broad Street
photo by John Wilson
Belt Line approaches Broad Street
photo by John Wilson
Belt Line at old streetcar crossing at Williams Street
photo by John Wilson
Belt Line headed for Alton Park Boulevard
photo by John Wilson
Alton Park Boulevard crossing
photo by John Wilson
Missionary Ridge in the background
photo by John Wilson
Side track blocked by crossties
photo by John Wilson
Going by an Alton Park Boulevard warehouse
photo by John Wilson
TAG Railroad merges with the Belt Line just east of Alton Park Boulevard. The TAG is coming in on the right.
photo by John Wilson
Belt Line and TAG near a merger with the main line coming in from the Lookout Mountain tunnel
photo by John Wilson
Residents were startled recently to see an engine pulling several rail cars crossing South Broad Street.
It once was a common sight, but it doesn't happen very often now.
That train was traveling on a section of the Belt Line that was built well over a century ago. Much of its track is still intact and some of it is in use.
In South Chattanooga, the Belt Line went past the Wheland Foundry site near the river and then veered away from the river to a crossing of the main line coming in from Nashville.
It then entered a marshy section near Chattanooga Creek known on old maps as "No Man's Land."
The Belt Line then went across Chattanooga Creek on a wooden trestle.
It crossed St. Elmo Avenue and South Broad Street at grade. This was at a time when there was little traffic on these streets and an occasional train was not felt to be too much of an intrusion.
Then it intersected with the streetcar line that went to St. Elmo at what is now Williams Street.
There was then a long isolated stretch before it crossed Alton Park Boulevard - also at grade. When it was built, there was no Alton Park Boulevard.
The Belt Line went straight a short distance in the direction of Missionary Ridge, then it veered north toward the National Cemetery. It went by the Lookout Place home of Capt. J.F. Shipp and then trestled Chattanooga Creek once again.
When a tunnel was built at the north end of Lookout Mountain in the early 1900s, this new Southern Railway route followed part of the old Belt Line section starting just above Alton Park Boulevard. The TAG line also followed this old route into town, veering off the Belt Line route just east of Alton Park Boulevard. This would become the main line through town.
There is a line still intact that veered off the main Belt Line track at St. Elmo Avenue toward the J.H. Allison packing plant. The rails split in the middle of the road. This spur went along Chattanooga Creek. The rails still remain, but the line is grown up in briers.