:: 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 from Richland, Georgia to Carrabelle, Florida. 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 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 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 ...

on the Gulf of Mexico. 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 The Sopchoppy River is a minor river in the Florida Big Bend. A tributary of the Ochlockonee River, it is approximately in lengthBoning, Charles R. 2007. ''Florida's Rivers''. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. and nearly entirely within ...

, 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 (site of an elegant casino/hotel). From Carrabelle, the paddle steamer ''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 Richland, Georgia to Carrabelle, Florida, 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 in 1927. The Seaboard went into receivership 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 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. ...

by 1980. In 1983, the former GF&A line north of Bainbridge was sold off to the South Carolina Central Railroad, and in 1989 it became part of the Georgia Southwestern Railroad. In 1997, the portion of the GF&A route from Richland south to Cuthbert was abandoned, and in 2002 the

Georgia Department of Transportation The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a limited role in developin ...

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. 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 Nor ...

and

Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invention ...

to reach Arlington, where it crossed the

Central of Georgia Railway The Central of Georgia Railway 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 cons ...

. It continued through Colquitt and Bainbridge before crossing the

Flint river The Flint River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 15, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. The river drains of western Georgia, flowing south from the u ...

and entering Florida. It continued through

Sopchoppy Sopchoppy is a city in Wakulla County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 457 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to b ...

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

and operated by the Georgia Southwestern Railroad. The segment from Bainbridge to Attapulgus, Georgia, is owned by CSX. It operates as their Bainbridge Subdivision. The Attapulgus-Tallahassee segment is owned by the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad. 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. 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