| Southern Railway CRESCENT DIVISION Chief Dispatcher John G. Hudson was making an entry on his train sheet in the division dispatching office. The dispatching office and division headquarters were located in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi depot. The CRESCENT DIVISION consisted of the Alabama Great Southern and the New Orleans & Northeastern railroads, so this office controlled the main line between New Orleans and Chattanooga, plus a few branches. The AGS dispatchers moved here from Birmingham around 1965, and all of the dispatchers moved back to Birmingham in 1989, after the Norfolk Southern merged the CRESCENT DIVISION into the ALABAMA DIVISION in 1987. The wooden box under the microphone allowed the dispatcher to select specific microwave antennae for communicating with trains, etc. |