From the 1850s to the post-Civil War period, the Chesapeake and Ohio RR route ran through Dalton, Rome, and Anniston, with stops in Cave Spring and Spring Garden, Alabama. From 1894 into the 1970s, Southern RR operated the Dalton-Anniston line. Local historical documents show lively health spa tourist traffic from Atlanta to Cave Spring, where visitors were attracted by the spring waters and many came by train from about the 1890s through the 1920s. GSD also sent about 600 students by train from Atlanta to Cave Spring, where they arrived at the old train depot and paraded into town every fall up to 1972. The Cave Spring Historical Society moved the caboose from the old depot with donations from Cave Spring citizens.