The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad was a
shortline 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 ...
that previously operated of track between
Thomasville and
Sylvester, Georgia
Sylvester is the county seat of Worth County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,188 at the 2010 and at 5,865 (2019) census. The city is the county seat and business center of Worth County and is claimed to be the ''Peanut Capital of th ...
, via
Albany. The Atlantic & Gulf was created in 1991 from former
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
tracks and currently exists as part of the
Georgia & Florida Railway, a subsidiary of
OmniTRAX
OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. states ...
.
History
The Atlantic and Gulf consisted of two separate lines out of Albany. The route from Thomasville to Albany was originally built by the
South Georgia and Florida Railroad and completed in June 1870. The SG&F later became part of the original
Atlantic and Gulf Railroad, and the
Savannah, Florida and Western by 1879. After 1882 the SF&W was simply known as the
Plant System
The Plant System named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western R ...
.
A second line ran from Albany to Sylvester, and was built by the
Brunswick and Albany in 1872. By 1901 the railroad was part of the Savannah, Florida and Western. Both lines ended up under the
Atlantic Coast Line umbrella in 1902, and through a number of mergers became part of CSX by 1986.
CSX sold both routes to
Gulf and Ohio Railways
Gulf & Ohio Railways is a holding company for four different short-line railroads in the Southern United States, as well as a tourist-oriented passenger train, and locomotive leasing and repair service through Knoxville Locomotive Works. Gulf & Oh ...
subsidiary Atlantic and Gulf and service began February 15, 1991.
Interchange was made with CSX at Thomasville,
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...
at Albany, the
Georgia Great Southern at Albany until 1994, and the
Georgia Southwestern at Albany after 1994. Commodities included coal, paper, grain, peanut oil, tires, forest products, and aggregates, which generated about 12,000 carloads in 1991.
On April 30, 1999, the Atlantic and Gulf was sold by Gulf and Ohio to
North American RailNet North American RailNet, Inc., based in Bedford, Texas, was a holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produ ...
subsidiary
Georgia and Florida RailNet along with an adjacent Gulf & Ohio property, the Georgia and Florida.
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlantic and Gulf Railroad (1991-1999)
Gulf and Ohio Railways