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Waycross Air Line Railroad

Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad (1901–1903) Atlantic and Birmingham Railway (1903–1906)
A CSX Transportation freight train in Cordele, Georgia on the former Waycross Air Line Railroad mainline
Overview
Current operator	CSX Transportation
Dates of operation	1890–1906
Successor	Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map v t e Legend CSX Manchester Subdivision ANB 788.1 Manchester Coleoatchee Creek ANB 781.1 Woodland US 80 SR 41 ANB 770.3 Talbotton Norfolk Southern Columbus District ANB 762.1 Junction City SR 96 SR 540 SR 90 ANB 755.3 Mauk ANB 750.9 Charing ANB 745.9 Rupert US 19 SR 3 SR 90 Cedar Creek Sand Creek ANB 736.6 Ideal SR 90 Buck Creek Oglethorpe Yard ANB 728.2 Oglethorpe SR 49 SR 90 Norfolk Southern Albany District Flint River ANB 726.3 Montezuma SR 26 ANB 717.5 Dooling ANB 715.3 Byromville SR 90 ANB 710.0 Lilly ANB 704.5 Vienna Heart of Georgia Railroad Norfolk Southern Macon District ANB 694.7 Cordele Heart of Georgia Railroad I-75 US 280 SR 30 Redoak Creek ANB 672.8 Rebecca Alapaha River ANB 659.7 Fitzgerald SR 90 ANB 640.7 Ambrose SR 32 ANB 629.2 Douglas SR 206 US 221 SR 135 Seventeen Mile River ANB 615.9 Nicholls ANB 613.0 Sessoms fmr. Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad US 1 US 23 SR 4 Satilla River Kettle Creek Pearson Spur ANB 586.5 Waycross US 82 SR 520 Thomasville-Jesup Wye (southern terminus) CSX Jesup Subdivision

The Waycross Air Line Railroad, chartered in 1887, was an air-line railroad in Georgia. It began operations between Waycross and Sessoms in 1890. In 1901, the railroad had extended as far as Fitzgerald, Georgia, at which time its charter was amended for an extension to Birmingham, Alabama, and it was renamed the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad. That company purchased the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad and Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway on December 3, 1903, changing its name to the Atlantic and Birmingham Railway. In 1906, the Atlantic and Birmingham Railway was in turn purchased by the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway, which continued expansion towards Birmingham.

The Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway changed hands again in 1926, becoming the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad, a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The original Waycross Air Line Railroad main line survived the 1967 ACL and SAL merger into the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the acquisition of the Family Lines (CRR, L&N, GA, AWP) into the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982 and finally absorption into the Chessie System to become part of CSX in 1987. As of 2022, it remains in service as an important CSX Transportation line, known as the Fitzgerald Subdivision.

History

Formation

The Waycross Air Line Railroad was originally chartered on October 24, 1887, by the Waycross Lumber Company, which owned a sawmill in Waltertown, Georgia, a distance of seven miles (11 km) from Waycross. Before chartering the Waycross Air Line Railroad, the company had previously operated a short railroad between its mill and Waycross; this formed the beginnings of the WALR. The railroad formally opened in 1890, with 25 miles (40 km) of track from Waycross to Sessoms, Georgia. Following an acquisition by Stilwell, Miller and Company, the WALR expanded, first to Bolen, Georgia, and then further to Nicholls, Georgia.

Expansion

Work on an extension of the line to the city of Fitzgerald, Georgia began on August 15, 1900. Service to that city started on February 26, 1901, following the completion of a new passenger station; a freight station was under construction and planned to open shortly after the passenger station. At the same time, the company also announced plans to expand beyond Fitzgerald in a northwestern direction.

Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad

The company's directors decided to rename the Waycross Air Line Railroad to the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad on October 25, 1901, as part of a charter modification allowing further expansion. The new name was chosen to indicate the company's plans to connect Birmingham, Alabama, with the Atlantic Ocean. At this point, the company had expanded from its initial seven miles to 150 miles (240 km). Starting from Fitzgerald, new tracks reached Cordele, Georgia on May 25, 1902. The following year additional construction was completed from Cordele as far as Montezuma, Georgia, where the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad met the Central of Georgia Railway. Plans for construction the rest of the way to Birmingham were underway, with the company launching surveys of a proposed route.

The Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad purchased two smaller railroads in 1903, including the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad and the Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway, between them adding an additional 81 miles (130 km) of track. As part of this merger, the company changed its name from the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad to the Atlantic and Birmingham Railway. Another railroad, the Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad, was purchased in 1904.

Strike

The Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad was faced with a strike in December 1905. The company's locomotive engineers and firemen had demanded better pay, shorter hours of work, and protection from being summarily fired, demands the railroad refused to accept. As a result, the company's employees, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, began a strike at the end of the day on December 10, 1905, following a unanimous vote in favor of striking.

Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway

In 1906, the company was merged into the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad, which was formed in 1905 specifically to purchase and extend the Atlantic and Birmingham. The AB&A's charter authorized it to build from the existing terminus of the Atlantic and Birmingham at Montezuma to the city of Birmingham, along with a new branch line to Atlanta. Under the AB&A, the railroad finally reached Birmingham in the middle of 1908. However, the company soon ran into financial troubles and was forced into receivership in 1909; it exited receivership in 1915 as the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway. More financial problems led to a foreclosure in 1922, before being again reorganized in 1926 as the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad, a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Twenty years later, the ACL formally purchased the ABC railroad.

Atlantic Coast Line and successors

Most of the route built by the Waycross Air Line Railroad and its successors remained in service with the Atlantic Coast Line, and continued following the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad merger in 1967, the formation of the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982, and finally absorption into CSX Transportation in 1986. CSX abandoned or truncated several branches of the former system in the 1980s and 1990s, but the majority of it continues in service. The original Waycross Air Line Railroad, along with the extension built by the AB&A to Birmingham, serves as CSX's primary route between Florida and the Midwestern United States, and has been upgraded in portions with double track and concrete ties.

Historic stations

References

1. ^ "Building of Rails Here Fascinating Story Says Pigge". Waycross Journal-Herald. Lake Ware. June 19, 1975. p. 5. Archived from the original on March 17, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
2. ^ Storey, Steve; Ray, David; McDaniel, Matt (November 2018). Historic Railroads of Georgia: A Historic Context Study and Evaluation of Georgia's Historic Railroads Appendix A: Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad (PDF) (Report). pp. 3–12. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
3. ^ Jones, Robert C. (March 20, 2017). A History of Georgia Railroads. Arcadia Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-4396-6012-6. Archived from the original on March 17, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
4. "Ground Broken". The Prattville Progress. Fitzgerald, Georgia. August 17, 1900. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
5. ^ "Waycross Air Line Road". The Pine Belt News. Fitzgerald, Georgia. February 28, 1901. p. 3. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
6. "Too Short For Headings". The Weekly Tallahasseean. October 25, 1901. p. 8. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
7. "Directors Hold Meting". The Troy Messenger. Thomasville, Georgia. December 9, 1903. p. 5. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
8. "Railway Trainmen Present Their Case". The Atlanta Constitution. Waycross, Georgia. December 14, 1905. p. 11. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
9. "Railroad Defaults on Bonds". The Baltimore Sun. January 2, 1909. p. 12. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
10. "Road Is 700 Miles Long". The Commercial Appeal. February 5, 1921. p. 10. Archived from the original on February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
11. "Georgia Railroads: Passenger Stations & Stops" (PDF). The Branch Line Society. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
12. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Florence and Atlanta Division Timetable (1982)

External links

• Waycross Air-Line Railroad v. Offerman & Western Railroad, 109 Ga. 827 (1900) (Case Law Access Project)
• Waycross Air Line Railroad (RailGA)

• Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads
• Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
• Railway companies established in 1887
• Railway companies disestablished in 1906
• 1887 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
• 1906 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)