Changing times (1945-1965)

In tune with the times, the WofA dieselized, beginning withBaldwinswitchers in the early 1940’s. By the early 1950’s, more diesels were added to the WPR roster (NW2s, an F3, FP7s, GP7s, GP9s and, later, GP40s) and the shop complex changed. The company completely rebuilt the machine shop to accommodate a new way of working with the new machines. Sometime in 1961, management had the roundhouse demolished, and the three foundries on location became less and less necessary. Nonetheless, carmen continued the shops’ long tradition of building and rebuilding freight and passenger cars to high standards of quality. Indeed it has been said that many barns and houses in Montgomery still have wood in them from wooden boxcars that were transformed into steel-sided cars by shop crews.

Decline and closing (1965-1971)

With standardized spare parts from the manufacturers increasingly available, shop crews were called upon less often to make parts from scratch. Competition from the air and trucking industries forced railroads everywhere to consolidate and gradually employment at the shops fell from a high of around 700 workers in the 1940’s to only 100-200. By 1968, the West Point Route had decided to move all shop operations to Atlanta, a move completed in 1971, from which point the company abandoned the facility for its own use. Management leased the site to Railway Engineering Company for a time, which used the site to rebuild first generation diesel locomotives, converting some into cabless "slugs". Kershaw Manufacturing Company, a Montgomery-based manufacturer of railroad maintenance of way equipment, also leased the site for a few years.