Middle Tennessee & Alabama Railroad

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====== The Redstone Years ======
A German man would soon arrive in Huntsville and resume his trade at the new Redstone Arsenal, his name was Werner von Braun and he built rockets.  Since the MT&A already had access to Huntsville Arsenal, which became a part of the new Redstone Arsenal, they were able to bring in traffic as Redstone Arsenal’s infrastructure was under construction and generate traffic as the Army started to design and build missiles and rockets at Redstone Arsenal.  An eastern extension of the line into Redstone Arsenal met the Huntsville Branch to enable other shipping possibilities.

The MT&A was able to provide cost effective transportation for workers as well as for rail shipment to and from Redstone Arsenal.  The increased traffic allowed the MT&A to build a small yard at the Madison junction to accommodate interchange of rolling stock to Southern Railway.  Traffic at Fayetteville could go to the north and west via the Columbia line (formerly the Duck River Valley Narrow Gauge Railway), to the east via the Elora-Decherd line, to the south via the MTA, and to the north via the MT&A to Shelbyville-Wartrace.

During the 1950s and 1960s, with the improvement of the roads in the area and more families obtaining automobiles, the MT&A reduced its passenger traffic.  It did continue to provide once daily runs from Madison, AL to Wartrace, TN, but the daily commuter runs ceased to operate.  And with the improvement in airline travel during the late 1960s, the passenger traffic ceased to exist.