Central of Georgia Railway

Central of Georgia Railway
Reporting mark	CG
Locale	Georgia, Alabama
Dates of operation	1895–1963
Successor	Southern Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Length	1,944 miles (3,129 km) in 1929
Headquarters	Savannah, Georgia

The Central of Georgia Railway (reporting mark CG) started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was constructed to join the Macon and Western Railroad at Macon, Georgia and run to Savannah, Georgia. This created a rail link from Chattanooga on the Tennessee River to seaports on the Atlantic Ocean. It took from 1837 to 1843 to finish this railroad all the way to Macon and until 1851 to get a bridge built across the Ocmulgee River.

During the construction of 1843 the company ran a rail line through land now designated as the Ocmulgee National Monument, an important Native American site sacred to the Creek Indians, and partially destroyed the Lesser Temple Mounds. In 1873 they ran a second line through Ocmulgee National Monument, this time partially destroying the Funeral Mound. While digging this line through the Funeral Mound, its workers collected skeletons and artifacts sacred to the Creek Indians.

During the Savannah Campaign of the American Civil War conducted south of the Ocmulgee during November–December 1864, rails were torn up and converted into "Sherman's Bowties."

Acquisitions

Over the years, this railroad steadily acquired other railroads by either lease or purchase:

• Augusta and Savannah Railroad 1862
  • Augusta and Waynesboro Railroad 1857
• Eatonton Branch Railroad 1855
• Milledgeville and Eatonton Railroad 1855
• Milledgeville and Gordon Railroad 1855
• Mobile and Girard Railroad 1886
  • Girard Railroad 1857
• Savannah and Tybee Railroad 1890
• Savannah and Western Railroad 1890
  • Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad 1891
    • Rome and Carrollton Railroad 1887
  • Columbus and Rome Railroad 1888
    • Columbus and Atlanta Air Line Railroad 1879
      • North and South Railroad of Georgia 1877
  • Columbus and Western Railroad 1888
    • Savannah and Memphis Railroad 1880
  • East Alabama Railroad 1888
    • East Alabama and Cincinnati Railroad 1880
• Savannah, Griffin and Northern Alabama Railroad 1890
• Southwestern of Georgia Railroad 1869
  • Montgomery and Eufaula Railroad 1879
  • Muscogee Railroad 1868
  • Vicksburg and Brunswick Railroad 1879
  • Southwestern Railroad 1869
• Upson County Railroad 1891
  • Barnesville and Thomaston Railroad 1860

Richmond Terminal Company

Troubles began in 1888 when the Richmond Terminal Company gained control of the railroad. The financial problems of the parent company forced this railroad into bankruptcy and it was sold at foreclosure three years later. It was reorganized as Central of Georgia Railway on November 1, 1895.

Central of Georgia Railway

Postcard depiction of the railroad's streamliner Man O' War.

The famous passenger train the Nancy Hanks, ran from Atlanta to Savannah, via Lovejoy, Griffin, Macon and Millen. Another from its famed fleet was the Man o' War, a Columbus, Georgia - Atlanta route, operated via Pine Mountain, Raymond and Newnan, Georgia. Note that both of these famous Central of Georgia trains were named after prize winning steeds.

In 1907, E. H. Harriman gained control of the railway, and later sold it to the Illinois Central Railroad, which he also controlled. The Illinois Central lost control in 1948, and the Central of Georgia was bought by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (“Frisco”) in 1956. The Interstate Commerce Commission did not approve the purchase, and so the Frisco sold the railway in 1961.

The C of G became a Southern Railway subsidiary on June 17, 1963. In 1971, the Southern formed the Central of Georgia Railroad to merge the Central of Georgia Railway, the Savannah and Atlanta Railway, and the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad.

Today, the Central of Georgia exists only as a paper railroad within the Norfolk Southern Railway group. Forty-two miles of the CG's former mainline are currently leased by the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway from the State of Georgia.

Preserved historic sites

A number of former properties of Central of Georgia are preserved as historic sites. These include the following six that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places:

• Central of Georgia Depot (Andalusia, Alabama)
• Central of Georgia Depot and Trainshed, Savannah, Georgia
• Central of Georgia Railroad Terminal (700 12th St., Columbus, Georgia)
• Central of Georgia Railroad Terminal (1200 6th Ave., Columbus, Georgia)
• Central of Georgia Railroad: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities, Savannah, GA

See also

• Roundhouse Railroad Museum (located at Savannah Shops)

References

• Drury, George H. (1985). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company. pp. 53–56. ISBN 0 89024 072 8. 

External links

• Central of Georgia Historical Society
• Extensive history at RailGA.com
• "Central of Georgia Railway, New Georgia Encyclopedia
• 1955 route map of the Central of Georgia, Georgia's Railroad History and Heritage
• Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, "Chapter VI: The Central of Georgia Railroad System," A History of Transportation in the Eastern Cotton Belt to 1860, New York, Columbia University Press, 1908.