The Apalachicola Northern Railroad was a

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

which operated in the

Florida Panhandle The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia (U. ...

. It owned and operated a between

Port Saint Joe, Florida Port St. Joe is a city located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 98 and State Road 71 and the county seat of Gulf County, Florida. As of the 2020 census,the population was 3,357. This was a decline from 3,644 as of the 2000 census. Hist ...

, and

Chattahoochee, Florida Chattahoochee is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Its history dates to the Spanish era. The population was 3,652 as of the 2010 census, up from 3,287 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statist ...

, with a short spur to

Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census. History The Apalachicola people, after ...

. It was founded in 1903 and ceased operating in 2002 when the

St. Joe Company The St. Joe Company is a land development company headquartered in Panama City Beach, Florida. Founded in 1936 and until 1966 known as St. Joe Paper Company, the company still operates a forestry division but is primarily engaged in real estate d ...

, its corporate parent, leased its line to the

AN Railway The AN Railway is one of several shortline railroad companies owned by the Genesee & Wyoming parent company. It operates between Port Saint Joe, Florida and a connection with the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad at Chattahoochee, Florida. The rai ...

History

The company was chartered on April 7, 1903. Construction began on March 21, 1905, and trains began running north from Apalachicola in 1907. The extension to Port St. Joe was completed on May 10, 1910. The company operated in

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

on three separate occasions: July 1907 to October 1908, May 1914 to February 1916 and May 1932 to December 1936. The company came under ownership of Alfred I. du Pont in 1933, along with the entire town of Port St. Joe. The railroad's largest customer, the St. Joe Paper Company mill in Port St. Joe, was owned by the

Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust is a non-profit organization created by philanthropist Alfred I. du Pont, Alfred Irénée du Pont in 1935, devoted to supporting the trust's sole charitable beneficiary, the Nemours Foundation. As of Decembe ...

from 1936 to 1996.Humanities & Social Sciences Online: ''Green Empire: The St. Joe Company and the Remaking of Florida's Panhandle'' by Kathryn Ziewitz and June Wiaz-2004
On September 30, 1940, Edward Ball, who managed the du Pont trust properties, transferred control of the railroad to the St. Joe Paper Company. When the paper company was sold in 1996, ownership of the railroad was returned to the

, a subsidiary of the

Rail Management Corporation Durden Enterprises II Inc - Formally Rail Management Corporation (RMC), based in Panama City Beach, Florida, was a holding company of short line railroads in the southeastern United States. History On May 26, 2005, Genesee and Wyoming (G&W) ...

leased line from the St. Joe Company on September 1, 2002 and acquired the railroad's locomotives, rolling stock, and railroad equipment. From that date the Apalachicola Northern ceased to operate as a railroad. The St. Joe Company continues to own the physical line.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apalachicola Northern Railroad Florida railroads Railway companies established in 1903 Non-operating common carrier freight railroads in the United States American companies established in 1903 1903 establishments in Florida 2002 disestablishments in Florida