The Georgia Great Southern 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 ...

formerly operating between Dawson and Albany, Georgia, . The railroad was partially abandoned in 1994.

RailTex RailTex was a transportation holding company that specialized in owning and operating short line railroads across North America. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the public company was a leader in making unprofitable lines shed by Class I railroads ...

consolidated its holdings in the area into the Georgia Southwestern in 1995, and the Georgia Great Southern ceased to exist as a separate railroad.

History

The

Chattahoochee Brick Company The Chattahoochee Brick Company was a brickworks located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, Georgia. The brickworks, founded by Atlanta mayor James W. English in 1878, is notable for its extensive use of convict lease labor, ...

built a line out of

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

and was known as 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 ...

when it opened its line to Albany, Georgia in 1890. The railroad was absorbed by the Georgia & Alabama Railway in 1896 and later merged into the

Seaboard Air Line 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 1902. The Seaboard Air Line merged into the

Seaboard Coast Line The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

in 1967, the SCL was merged into the

Seaboard System The Seaboard System Railroad, Inc. was a US Class I railroad that operated from 1982 to 1986. Since the late 1960s, Seaboard Coast Line Industries had operated the Seaboard Coast Line and its sister railroads—notably the Louisville & Nashville ...

in 1983 and became

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. ...

in 1986. CSX put the route from Albany to Dawson out of service due to a lack of traffic over the line. RailTex made an offer on the line and on December 14, 1990 the Georgia Great Southern was created as a division of 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 ...

to operate the new acquisition. However, day-to-day operation of the railroad was actually incorporated with a fellow South Carolina Central division, the Georgia & Alabama. The GGS rostered a single locomotive, a rebuilt GP7u numbered 2130. The Georgia Great Southern served as a vital link between the RailTex subsidiaries in the area and Gulf & Ohio subsidiary Atlantic & Gulf at Albany. As such, most carloads were simply bridge traffic between Norfolk Southern and the Atlantic & Gulf at Albany to the Georgia & Alabama at Dawson. Traffic patterns changed again in 1994 as the railroad ceased operations over the entire line. The Georgia Great Southern division became redundant following acquisition of trackage rights over

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 ...

into Albany in 1995. Although out of service the railroad was merged into 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 1995.

References

{{Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Railway companies established in 1990 1990 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)