:: The Georgia, Florida and Alabama RailroadSources differ on the use of ''Railroad'' vs ''Railway'' in the official name of the company. (the GF&A), known as the Sumatra Leaf Route, and colloquially as the Gopher, Frog & Alligator was a -long

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

from

Richland, Georgia Richland is a city in Stewart County, Georgia, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 1,370. History The community took its name from the local Richland Baptist Church, the name of which most likely is a transfer from Richland, ...

Carrabelle, Florida Carrabelle is a city in Franklin County along Florida's Panhandle, United States. The population was 2,778 as of the 2010 census. Carrabelle is located east of Apalachicola at the mouth of the Carrabelle River on the Gulf of Mexico. Geography C ...

. It was founded in 1895 as a logging railroad, the Georgia Pine Railway. The northern and southern ends of the railroad have been abandoned, but the section from Cuthbert, Georgia, to Tallahassee, Florida, remains in use by various railroads.

History

Construction and early years

Hannibal Kimball Hannibal Ingalls Kimball (May 16, 1832 – April 28, 1895) was an American entrepreneur and important businessman in post-Civil War Atlanta, Georgia. Early years Born in Oxford County, Maine to family of Methodist wheelwrights. He was the f ...

promoted the Bainbridge, Cuthbert and Columbus Railroad to run north-to-south through southwest Georgia in 1869. Although work began on construction in 1870, it was never completed, and in 1872 the project was abandoned amidst financial problems and bond endorsement issues that stirred allegations of impropriety against Kimball. During the 1880s, attempts were made to revive the railroad, with some activity taking place in the middle of that decade, but this too came to nothing. Finally, in 1895 local entrepreneur J. D. Williams laid rails on part of the route creating the Georgia Pine Railroad connecting Bainbridge to Arlington. The railroad had only been intended for logging, but since it provided an additional rail route from Georgia into Florida and connected with other railroads, traffic increased. By 1898, the railroad was renamed the Georgia Florida and Alabama Railroad and by 1901, it had been extended north to Richland. In 1902, the GF&A completed the section from Tallahassee to Bainbridge.

Tallahassee to Carrabelle

In 1906, the Georgia Florida and Alabama Railway purchased the Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Georgia Railroad (CT&G), which ran from Tallahassee south to Carrabelle on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The CT&G from Carrabelle north was first chartered as the Thomasville, Tallahassee and Gulf Railroad in 1883. Construction began from Carrabelle to the Sopchoppy River, but it stopped there since the company could not obtain funding to build a bridge over the river. The line was reorganized as the Augusta, Tallahassee and Gulf Railroad in 1889. It was then purchased by William Clark who owned 175,000 acres of pine lands near the railroad. Clark reincorporated the line as the Carrabelle, Tallahassee & Georgia Railroad on January 5, 1891. Construction was complete to Tallahassee by October 1893. CT&G also had stops at Hilliardville, Crawfordville, MacIntyre, and

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

(site of an elegant casino/hotel). From Carrabelle, the

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses we ...

''Crescent City'', owned by the CT&G, made daily round trips to Apalachicola, to which there was no road or rail access at the time. Once the Georgia Florida and Alabama Railroad acquired the CT&G, the GF&A reached its greatest extent from

, a distance of 180 miles. Image:Carrabele Tallahassee Georgia Railroad n038653.jpg, CT&G train approaching Tallahassee in 1895 Image:Carrabelle Tallahassee Georgia Railroad rc12343.jpg, Steamer Crescent City at terminus in Carrabelle in 1895 Image:Carrabelle Tallahassee Georgia Railroad c00012.jpg, Terminus at Carrabelle in 1898

Later Years

The GF&A was leased to the

Seaboard Air Line Railway The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

in 1927. The Seaboard went into

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 c ...

at the end of 1930, and the lease was revoked in 1931. The Seaboard was reformed after receiving government loans, and it agreed to operate, but not lease the GF&A. In 1944, the court that was overseeing the Seaboard's receivership authorized the company to purchase 90% of the GF&A's bonds. In 1948, the line was abandoned from Carrabelle to Tallahassee. The Seaboard Air Line became part of CSX Transportation by 1980. In 1983, the former GF&A line north of Bainbridge was sold off to the

South Carolina Central Railroad The South Carolina Central Railroad is a class III railroad that operates of former CSX Transportation trackage in South Carolina. Originally a RailTex subsidiary upon its start in 1987, the railroad passed to RailAmerica following their acquis ...

, and in 1989 it became part of the

Georgia Southwestern Railroad The Georgia Southwestern Railroad is a Class III short line railroad company that operates over of track in southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama. Beginning in 1989 as a division of the South Carolina Central Railroad on a pair of forme ...

. In 1997, the portion of the GF&A route from Richland south to Cuthbert was abandoned, and in 2002 the Georgia Department of Transportation acquired the remaining Cuthbert to Bainbridge section. The Georgia Southwestern remains the operator of the line.

Route

The northern terminus of the line was at Richland, where it met the

Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway The Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway (SA&M) was a historic railroad located in the U.S. states of Georgia and Alabama. SA&M was built in the 1880s running between Montgomery, Alabama and Lyons, Georgia. It would be completed to Savannah, ...

and the

Columbus Southern Railway The Columbus Southern Railway is a historic railroad that operated in the U.S. state of Georgia. The railroad operated an 88-mile line from Columbus to Albany that opened in 1890. History It was originally chartered in 1885 as the Columbus and ...

. It ran almost due south through

Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nort ...

and Edison to reach Arlington, where it crossed the Central of Georgia Railway. It continued through Colquitt and Bainbridge before crossing the Flint river and entering

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It continued through Sopchoppy and Tallahassee and on to its southern terminus in Carrabelle on the Florida Gulf Coast.

Today

The Cuthbert-Bainbridge segment is now owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation and operated by the

. The segment from Bainbridge to

Attapulgus, Georgia Attapulgus is a city in Decatur County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 454. The town's name is an Indian word meaning "Dogwood"; due to the abundance of attapulgite, which makes up the clay soil throu ...

, is owned by CSX. It operates as their Bainbridge Subdivision. The Attapulgus-Tallahassee segment is owned by the

Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad The Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad is a Class III railroad owned and operated by RailUSA in the Florida Panhandle. The line consists of 373 miles (600 km) of track running from Baldwin, Florida (just west of Jacksonville) west through Tallah ...

. Currently, the line's milepost numbers begin in Tallahassee at 52 and increase from there. This is due to the fact that the numbering still reflects the line's full length to Carrabelle, which was mile 0 before the track between there and Tallahassee was abandoned. A 2.4-mile part of the abandoned Tallahassee-Carrabelle segment of the GF&A is now the Tallahassee-Georgia Florida and Alabama (GF&A) Trail in the

Apalachicola National Forest The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The National Forest provides water and land-based outdoors activities ...

. Research work on the rail-to-trail project was done by Genesis Group.

Historic stations

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

"Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railway
in ''Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives, and History'' by Richard E. Prince, 1966; reprinted 2000.

by Donald R. Hensley, Jr., at Taplines.net - includes a good map of the GF&A prior to its acquisition by the Seaboard in 1927. Defunct railroad companies of the United States American companies established in 1895 American companies disestablished in 1944 Defunct Florida railroads 1895 establishments in Florida Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Railway companies established in 1895 Railway companies disestablished in 1944 Predecessors of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Predecessors of CSX Transportation