Sightseers' Delight
  • Home
  • News
  • Seeing America
  • Globetrotting
  • Travel Guides
  • Live Updates
  • Express-Telegraph
  • About
  • Donald Trump
  • Travel News & Notes
  • Attractions
  • Eat Drink & Be Merry
  • Smyrna, Georgia
  • Politics
  • Newsletter
News Wire
  • [ October 2, 2025 ] Big Green Egg’s EGGtoberfest set for Oct. 4 in Lawrenceville News
  • [ September 28, 2025 ] FEMA and Southeast states brace for potential Tropical Cyclone Nine News
  • [ September 26, 2025 ] Georgia drew 174 million visitors in 2024, breaking tourism records again News
  • [ September 26, 2025 ] Originair to launch twice-daily Blenheim–Christchurch flights Oct. 19 News
  • [ September 25, 2025 ] Christchurch Airport goes ticketless across all car parks News
HomeGeneralDeFeo Highlights History of the Atlanta Northern During Speech on New Book

DeFeo Highlights History of the Atlanta Northern During Speech on New Book

February 8, 2022 Railfanning.org News Wire General

ATLANTA — Railfanning.org Editor Todd DeFeo kicked off a promotional tour for his newest book, the first complete history of the Atlanta Northern Railway.

DeFeo spoke to the Rotary Club of Vinings Cumberland. He previously addressed the group in August 2020, discussing the history of the Western & Atlantic Railroad and its impact on communities such as Vinings.

“As I started thinking about the legacy of the Atlanta Northern … it’s a little bit different from the Western & Atlantic because the Western & Atlantic Railroad is still around today. Its tracks are still there; trains still operate over it,” DeFeo told the group. “You could also look at some of the cities perhaps along the Western & Atlantic — Dalton, Kennesaw, Smyrna. Maybe even Atlanta and say that’s the legacy of the Western & Atlantic. So that’s the idea of the question of what is the legacy of the Atlanta Northern?

“I think that legacy starts with something I said at the beginning: ‘Maybe one day, Cobb County will have a mass transit option.’ When you look back, I think it’s particularly interesting because we have infrastructure in place like a mass transit system and then we decide it’s obsolete. It goes the way of everything that’s past its usefulness,” DeFeo said. “Then years later, after we remove it, we complain about it say, ‘we should have a mass transit system.’ I’m not trying to make a political argument in one direction or another, but my point is to know where we’re going, we need to know where we’ve been. As we chart out a direction for the future, we need to understand our past.

“We live in an interesting time for history. Too often, we don’t really know it, we tend to ignore it; sometimes we pretend our history is different from what it was. For me, history’s always been appealing because it’s complex,” DeFeo added. “There are so many stories waiting to be discovered, waiting to be retold in a new light, stories like that of the Atlanta Northern Railway. Maybe there’s a lesson in the past, in the story of the Atlanta Northern or elsewhere, about what worked and what we can take to heart as we build that better future.”

The DeFeo Groupe published the book on Jan. 31.

This article was published by Railfanning.org and is republished here with permission. Click here to view the original.

Related

  • Datelines & Destinations
Previous

Murphy announces end to New Jersey school mask mandate

Next

Officials say retiring debt will save New Jersey taxpayers more than $500 million

Related Articles

Badlands National Park.
Featured

It’s time to consider the Black Hills and the Badlands for your next vacation

December 14, 2021 Todd DeFeo Featured, Seeing America
First off, the Black Hills and the area around Rapid City are stunningly beautiful. Secondly, the national parks are among the best in the country.

Featured

Why New Zealand visitors should watch ‘Pork Pie’

March 19, 2025 Sightseers’ Delight Featured, Globetrotting
It’s probably fair to say that most visitors to New Zealand aren’t thinking about the country’s cinematic history aside from perhaps “The Lord of the Rings.”

Seeing America

Take time to sail in Amelia Island

September 3, 2020 Todd DeFeo Seeing America
Sometimes it’s possible to forget Amelia Island is, in fact, an island. But, a quick sail around the Amelia River and St. Marys Entrance is a reminder that it is not only an island, but it provides a relaxing getaway from the world’s craziness.

Support Sightseers’ Delight

Click here to support Sightseers' Delight.

Top Stories

  • Is licorice the best road food? We asked an expert
    July 29, 2025
  • A flower in Queens Park in Invercargill, New Zealand.
    Why a botanical garden should be on your next vacation itinerary
    June 4, 2025
  • Take your bloody car to Invercargill; you won’t regret it or forget it
    April 9, 2025
  • Today, we’ll all be your huckleberry
    April 2, 2025
  • Why New Zealand visitors should watch ‘Pork Pie’
    March 19, 2025

Sign Up for Our Emails

Subscribe

* indicates required
/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Intuit Mailchimp

Join us in the Cesspool

Join us in the Cesspool

Family Features

Loading Family Features Article

Encyclopedia Search

  • Office of Road Inquiry
  • Air Mail Act of 1925
  • The Leaf-Chronicle
  • Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
  • George Kaiser Family Foundation
About Us

Sightseers’ Delight is published by The DeFeo Groupe, LLC. All original content (c) 2009-2024 The DeFeo Groupe, LLC, and may not be republished without express written consent.

Before You Plagiarize

Before you copy and paste this information to your website, please keep in mind this research took a lot of effort. Appreciate it. Learn from it. But do not plagiarize it. Yes, if you think we might be talking to you, we are.

Top Posts
  • Miami City Hall
    WalletHub: Miami tops best cities for foodies; Portland, San Francisco follow
    September 29, 2025
  • A butterfly on the first day of fall
    September 21, 2025
  • Athens statue honors Ben Epps, ‘Georgia’s First Aviator,’ and his role in aviation history
    August 27, 2025

(c) 2016-2024 The DeFeo Groupe, LLC. The DeFeo Groupe, LLC, P.O. Box 2714, Smyrna, Georgia 30081.