The engine of the Roswell Railroad at Chamblee Station.

Beginnings and route

Prior to the Civil War, the owners of the Roswell Manufacturing Company determined that a railroad to carry goods produced in their mills to Atlanta would be great for business. Grading work began to prepare for tracks, but that work was halted with the onset of the war.

In the 1870’s, construction resumed and a narrow gauge track was laid. The first engine of the Roswell Railroad was a small engine, known as Dinky. Later, the track was changed to double gauge and the new engine was called Buck or Old Buck.

From Chamblee Depot, the railroad went through where Chamblee Plaza is today, and on to the location of Chamblee Methodist Church. There was a trestle bridge over Nancy Creek near the church. The railroad then crossed where I-285 is today, following the path of Chamblee Dunwoody Road. The path continued past the home of William J. and Millie Adams Donaldson, known today as Donaldson- Bannister Farm. Continuing along the path of Chamblee Dunwoody Road, the railroad crossed present day Mount Vernon Road and stayed to the left at the fork with Roberts Drive to continue the path of today’s Chamblee Dunwoody Road.

At what is now Spalding Drive the railroad curved back to the right towards Roberts Drive, which is named for long time engineer Ike Roberts.

There were four stops along the route of the Roswell Railroad. From Chamblee, the first stop was Wilson’s Mill, known as a flag stop because the train only stopped if it was flagged down. The Dunwoody Depot was situated on the east side of Chamblee Dunwoody Road, generally between where CVS Pharmacy and Chevron gasoline station are today. Powers Station was in the area where Chamblee Dunwoody Road meets Spalding Drive, near Pitts Road and although referred to as station, it may also have been a flag stop. Next stop was the Roswell Depot, actually located on the south side of the Chattahoochee River in what is now Sandy Springs. The original plan was for the tracks to go over a bridge and end in Roswell, but cost prevented this plan from being completed.

A spur was later built from the Powers Station, which carried an engine down to the Morgan Falls area. Supplies to build the Morgan Falls dam were carried by this spur.

The Railroad Section House, which today sits between Synovus Bank and Wade Automotive Repair on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, was once one of three section houses. The section houses were used for railroad workers to stay in while working on the track.

Farmers in Dunwoody sent their produce by way of the Roswell Railroad to reach the city of Atlanta. Stories from those who remembered the days of Buck include that one could flag down the engine and it would stop and pick them up.

One of Buck’s most exciting trips was in 1905 carrying President Theodore Roosevelt to visit Bulloch Hall in Roswell, his mother’s childhood home. They say that Engineer Ike Roberts drove slowly through Dunwoody that day, ringing the train bell and blowing the whistle to cheers from the people of the town.

First Day of Roswell Railroad

The following is a story that appeared in the October 9, 1990 issue of the Dunwoody Crier newspaper. This story was passed down through the Warnock family and shared by Sidney B. Horne, a writer for the Dunwoody Crier. The article titled The Day of the Dinkey, tells the story of the first day the engine of the Roswell Railroad made its trip from Roswell to Chamblee.

It was a chilly morning in early November 1880. A young boy name William Robert Warnock, twelve years old, eagerly anticipated the first run of Dinkey. Family and friends called William Robert by the name Billy Bob.

Dinkey was not a unique name for an engine, but one often given to similar small engines. The steam driven freight and passenger train ran on a narrow-gauge track. The engine was later known as Buck or Old Buck, probably after the track was converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge.

Billy Bob walked from his home on Lawrenceville Road (now Mount Vernon Road) to the newly built Dunwoody Depot, along Chamblee Dunwoody Road, just north of the Cheek house and waited for the train to arrive. As the engine pulled in front of the depot, Billy Bob saw Ike Roberts, wearing his striped engineers cap.

Billy Bob had purchased a ticket to board the train, but many adults were ahead of him and the passenger car began to fill up. Engineer Roberts announced there was standing room only and Billy Bob began to worry that he wasn’t going to make it on the train. However, Roberts saw the boy, and having a lifelong love for trains himself, understood how Billy Bob felt and reached out his hand to help him aboard. Billy Bob was among those who took a ride on Dinkey, the engine of the Roswell Railroad on the first day.

Other sources cited include: “The Story of Dunwoody” by Elizabeth L. Davis, Ethel W. Spruill, Joyce Amacher, and Lynne Byrd; maps of the Roswell Railroad, by Michael Hitt and Chuck Brown.