The Mobile & Girard Railroad was an

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

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 ...

which was constructed in the mid-19th century; a portion of the line continues in operation under different ownership. The line was constructed with a

track gauge In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...

of .

Construction

The Mobile and Girard Railroad was constructed in the mid-19th century. In 1852, Alabama was granted a

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

across US government lands from

Girard, Alabama Girard, Alabama was a city in the far north-east corner of Russell County, Alabama across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia. Named after the Philadelphia-based banker and philanthropist Stephen Girard, who had purchased much of the M ...

(across the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...

from

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 o ...

) to

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. Th ...

. Construction began in 1854 and by October 1 of that year, cars were running on the first nine miles of track, to Fort Mitchell, and to Guerryton by mid-1855. But construction of the 13 miles from Guerryton to Union Springs. was delayed, and was not complete until November, 1859. The line was completed to

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

in 1870 and later as far as

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

.Docket No. AB 601 Pine Belt Southern Railroad Company, Inc.; Abandonment; Between Nuckols and Hurtsboro in Russell, Bullock, and Macon Counties, Alabama; Notice of Exemption; Dated May 1, 2002 The plan for Mobile to be the end point was in doubt as early as 1857 when it was determined that it would cost four times as much to complete to Mobile as it would to Pensacola. Also, Mobile had never made payment on its subscription to the railroad. Mobile and Girard Railroad Date: Tuesday, January 6, 1857 Paper: Columbus Tri-Weekly Enquirer (Columbus, Georgia) Volume:III Issue:18 Page:2 In 1879, the

Central of Georgia Railroad Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

expanded into Alabama with the purchase of the

Montgomery & Eufaula Railroad Montgomery refers to: People For people with the name Montgomery, see Montgomery (name) Places Belgium * Montgomery Square, Brussels * Montgomery metro station, Brussels Pakistan * Montgomery (town), British India, former name of Sahiwal, Punja ...

. Several Alabama shortlines were thereafter acquired, including the M&G. The Central of Georgia became part of the Southern Railway in 1963; Southern and

Norfolk & Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisi ...

merged to form

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

in 1982. NS gradually abandoned the former M&G line. First from Andalusia to Goshen in 1986, and then from Troy to Hurtsboro in 1988.

Pine Belt Southern shortline operation

Pine Belt Southern Railroad The Pine Belt Southern Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating on two disconnected track segments in east central Alabama. Upon its start in 1995 the railroad ran over a branch from Nuckols to Hurtsboro, Alabama. In 1996 a second ...

purchased the remaining line from the NS interchange at Nuckols (Milepost S-304.00) to Hurtsboro (Milepost S-329.00) on July 27, 1995. Traffic on the line was 95% sand (US Silica Company west of downtown Hurtsboro), 4% logs, and 1% inbound finished lumber.

Pine Belt Southern abandonment

After the sand distributor that accounted for the overwhelming majority of traffic on the line lost its key rail supplied customer, the line was found to no longer be economically viable. The last train operated over the line in 2000. On May 1, 2002, PBRR filed a Notice of Exemption with the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Interstat ...

for abandonment of the line. Though the Macon County Commission was granted a public use condition by the STB to explore acquisition of the right of way for public use, the line officially abandoned on June 1, 2003. The ties and rails were removed though the roadbed remains.

Conecuh Valley Railroad operation

The Conecuh Valley Railroad continues to operate the last remaining of the M&G between Goshen and Troy, interchanging with

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. ...

at Troy. From 1988 to 2001 this line segment was operated by the Southern Alabama Railroad Company.
Railserve; Conecuh Valley Railroad

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mobile And Girard Railroad 5 ft gauge railways in the United States Defunct Alabama railroads 1854 establishments in Alabama