Two other short lines that had several different names during their histories were the Tallulah Falls and the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia–both of which met their names, unlike several class ones.
The Tallulah Falls connected with the Southern at Cornelia, Georgia and went north, 57.2 miles to Franklin, North Carolina, stopping at, among other places, Habersham (near the source of the Chattahoochee River), Tallulah Falls, Tiger, Clayton, Mountain City, Rabun Gap (all in Geogia), and Otto, North Carolina.
The railroad began as the Northeastern Railroad with a plan to build from Athens to Clayton, opening the track from Lula to Athens (which became Southern’s line to Athens from Lula) in 1876–and the Richmond and Danville purchased the stock in 1881. In 1882, the line reached Clayton, at mile 24.7 from Cornelia. (I found no mention of how the line went from Lula to Cornelia; perhaps it was intended to use the Richmond and Danville?)
After being chartered in 1887, the Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad bought the northern section (Cornelia to Clayton), and planned to build towards Knoxville, so as to connect Savannah and Knoxville. Being in financial difficulties,
Some more Georgia short lines, particularly some that connected various towns with longer roads that bypassed the towns.
The Sandersville Railroad ran 4.0 miles from Sandersville to Tennille, where it connected with the Central of Georgia and the Wrightsville and Tennille. While looking for information of this road, I found several sources. One, http://www.railga.com/sandten.html does not mention why the road was built; another, https://www.american-rails.com/sandersville.html does not mention a previously existing road, the Sandersville and Tennille, which is named in the previous source. (That first source lit up when I pasted it; the second did not–Highlight it and do a right click to go to it) The second source tells us that when the CoG was building towards Macon, the residents did not want the railroad in their town, so the road went through Tennille instead. This source does not name the first road that was built to connect the two towns–the Sandersville and Tennille (http://www.railga.com/sandten.html) For further information of this, you can go to http://railga.com/augsou.html.
http://www.railga.com/sander.html gives more information as to the origin of the road. The S&T refused to grant trackage rights to the CoG–so the CoG saw to it that the Sandersville road was built, and it began operation in 1893, and was operated by the Tarbutton family. The road more or less struggled until the mid-fifties, when a 5 mile line to a kaolin deposit more than doubled the length of the road. It is an oddity among the many short lines that we
The Sylvania Railway Company ran 14.7 miles from Rocky Ford, where it connected with the CoG, to Sylvania. This road began n 1884 as the Sylvania Railroad Company and, amazingly, was completed (with the help of the CoG) by April of 1885. http://railga.com/sylvrr.html
In 1903, the property was reorganized as the Sylvania Central Railway, and so operated until 1915, when it was leased to the Sylvania and Girard Railroad Company, which was dissolved in 1915 whereupon it operated again as the Sylvania Central Ry–and in 1935, the line was leased to the Sylvania Railway Company–and again became the Sylvania Central Ry in 1944 and so continued for another ten years until it was abandoned. http://railga.com/sylcen.html
The Talbotton Railroad ran 8 miles from Talbotton to Junction City, where it connected with the CoG. It took almost nine years from its being chartered in 1872 until it opened in 1881. At the time of its construction, it connected with the Southwestern Railroad, later was absorbed by the CoG –and the junction was known as Bostick (and the inhabitants seemed not to be satisfied with that name, for it was later named Paschal–and eventually was given the name of Junction City.
The Bowdon Railway ran 12 miles from Bowdon to Bowdon Junction, where it connected with the CoG. It was incorporated in 1910–and began operation in Janu
I’m thinking that Southern ruled the roost in the South. Did ACL or SAL get far into the heartland of the South or did they pretty much stay within the confines of Florida.
GM&O must have some major presence.
All the majors dieselizied quite early. You would think tradition and a slower and more thoughtful pace of life would have done just the opposite.
It does seem that the Southern System took in more shortlines than almost any other system or road. In Virginia, there was the Danville and Western, which served the towns of Leaksville and Spray (later merged, to become Leaksville-Spray until the name was changed to Eden). There were several shortlines in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. The Carolina and Northwestern ran from Chester, S.C. to Lenoir (and beyond), N.C. The Blue Ridge, which for a time provided a short cut between the Asheville-Columbia line and the Southern’s main line for the overnight Columbia-Atlanta sleeper, also was in the Southern’s fold. At the moment, I cannot think of any other shortline that was closely associated with the Southern.
The ACL (which did not approach the coastline until it reached Charleston, originally it went through Wilmington, N.C. and then to Florence, S.C. on its way south) had one road, the Charleston & Western Carolina (not such a short line, extending from Port Royal, S.C. to Anderson and Spartanburg by way of Augusta) associated with it. The Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic (later, the Atlanta Birminham and Coast),which did reach the coast, was a Class I which became a part of the ACL (it carried the Dixe Flagler out of Atlanta to Waycross while it was still more or less independent)
The SAL, which said “Through the Heart of the South” reached the seaboard with its branch to Portsmouth, Va. and a branch through Charleston that ran between Hamlet, N.C. and Savannah, and did, of course, run to Savaannah on its way to Jacksonville.
Both the ACL and the SAL combined existing roads in Florida to form their lines as they existed in the f
Oh, my. Look at their histories and see. ACL didn’t go south of Charleston, SC until close to the turn of the 20th Century. SAL likewise had considerable presence north of Jacksonville, including the famous ‘air line’ part. Both were major east-coast partners in trains from northern and eastern points – look at the route of the Silver Meteor as a case in point.
All you really have to do to understand dieselization of Florida passenger trains in the '30s is to look at the color schemes. An E unit was described (in the Trains article about this years ago) as a kind of large rolling billboard that it would be a mistake not to fill with colorful promotion.
Meanwhile, look at ACL’s encounter with ‘modern’ 4-8-4 design, which even after being corrected left you with something not as stylish as those E units…
… and Mr. Champion? Conservative?
Incidentally, if I remember correctly the ACL controlled the L&N and NC&StL from early on; the L&N revenue in particular being a major factor in keeping ACL out of receivership in the extraordinarily rotten (for them) years of the Depression.
The ACL matched the SAL Silver Meteor and its EMD E-unit diesels with its Champion and its EMD E-units. Both were initially all-coach trains. But while the ACL continued to use steam on its other through pasenger trains, the SAL dieselized the heavyweight all-Pullman Orange Blossom Special, reduced its running time, and was an earlier purchaser of freight diesels than ACL.
Yes, Overmod, the SAL and ACL were latecomers to Florida. In 1892, the ACL trains used two roads to get from Charleston to Jacksonville–and the SAL was a Richmond/Portsmouth to Birmingham road with its associated roads–the SAL did not even get to Columbia, S.C., then but when it did reach Columbia, it made use of the Southbound RR (Ry?) to get to Savannah.
Once they did get to Florida, they made use of various existing lines to reach their destinations–and some of the junctions, such as Sanford, remained as division points for many years. Seaboard did construct its own line into Miami; Tampa was the original (as well as I can determine) end of the line.
Yes, as to who owned whom, the ACL was a big shot. The Clinchfield was, as I recall, also a joint ACL/L&N affair.
I wonder how Champion Davis really felt about the ACL=SAL merger. I understand that when he headed the ACL, he always referred to his principal competitor as “That Other Road.” He liked the color purple, and heavyweights were, I understand painted purple, and his diesels were so painted. So, his successor was called by some, “The Purple Diesel Eater”–around the time the song “The Purple People Eater” was popular.
Deggesty and Overmod-- Thanks to both, …I understand that you might percieve the question’s and inquiries a bit basic and I do know some things about SAL, ACL and Southern but it’s always something racing down the coast with New Yorkers getting away from winter or something coming out of Washington.
Really and truly I know very little of the South, especially freight operations and where track went.
I mentioned GM&O simply because of those scenes in Sparta, Miss in the movie “In the Heat of the Night”
Did they even get into Mississippi?. …assumed they did.
It’s more your weight of the words from both of you and the importance attached to them that gives me some good basic insight.
I can well understand the colourful Diesels carrying important trains to the sunshine but why so fast to dieselize in the vast sleepy territory with freight and locals all the way to Louisiana. Thats a lot of track, states and territory, a lot of it rural and well out of the limelight.
Yes, the M&O ran from Mobile up through eastern Mississippi to East St. Louis and had a branch from Artesia, Miss., to Mongomery Ala. (and a short stub from Artesia to Starkville). The GM&N was a Jackson, Tenn. to Mobile line, running west of the M&O, with a branch from Union, Miss., over to Jackson, Miss., and down to Slidell, La., and then trackage rights on the NO&NE (Southern Ry System) into New Orleans. There were other short brancehes here and there.
Not quite. The Midnight Special was a Chicago-St. Louis overnight train that GM&O inherited when it acquired the Alton. The Gulf Coast Rebel would have gone through Sparta.
Just for the record: the ‘In the Heat of the Night’ Sparta is fictional; the ‘real’ Sparta is much smaller and more rural.
The depot in Illinois was probably used for the sign; most of the movie was recognizably shot in Hammond (Louisiana) and the TV show I believe in Covington (Georgia) – the latter without the GM&O references.
The Macon, Dublin and Savannah R.R. ran 92.3 miles from Macon, where it connected with the Southern, CoG, and Georgia, to Vidalia, where it connected with the Seaboard and the Georgia and Florida R.R. In Dublin (m.p. 53.5), it connected with the Wrightsville and Tennille. The idea of the planners was to connect Macon with Dublin, and the name originally expressed that desire.
Though construction began in 1885, apparently funds were depleted in the spring of the next year, for construction stopped then, and was not resumed for four years, after the project was lengthened to reach Savannah. In 1901, the work was resumed, and Vidalia was reached the next year, and the connection with the Seaboard Air Line was established. (http://railga.com/galabama.html)
In 1904, The Atlantic Coast Line gained control of the road, possibly with the thought of serving Macon–but the closest point then on the ACL was Ludowici, through an area with little potential for on-line traffic. In 1907, the SAL gained control–and this put a stop to any thought of an extension to Savannah, since Vidalia is on the SAL’s line between Savannah and Montgomery.
In 1958, the road lost all independence when the SAL took it into its fold. In time, the former MD&S, along with the SAL line between Savannah and Vidalia, came to be operated by the Georgia
The AN’s now abandoned line into Appalachicola split at Franklin, about three miles from Appalachicola itself. It’s hard to tell from maps or even satellite images exactly where the rail line went in the town itself.