The St. Marys Railroad is a

class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

operating in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

United States.

History

The St. Mary's and Kingsland Railroad, incorporated on October 24, 1906, was founded in 1865 by Captain Lemuel Johnson. It received its charter from the state of

, and its first two

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

purchased were #207 and #308. The SM&K eventually became the Atlantic, Waycross and Northern Railroad. After the death of Johnson in 1918, the railroad was sold to the Southern Fertilizer and Chemical Company in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, with the sale being completed on January 24, 1918. The AW&N was sold in 1939 to Gilman Paper Company-St. Marys Kraft Corporation and became the St. Marys Railroad. The SM purchased its first

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

#500 in 1945 which was nicknamed the "Goat." Ten years later the railroad constructed a 4-mile spur to service the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

's Kings Bay ammunition storage facility which is now the

Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is a base of the United States Navy located adjacent to the city of St. Marys in Camden County, Georgia, on the North River in southeastern Georgia, and 38 miles (61 km) from Jacksonville, Florida. The Submari ...

. The SM was merged into the

Gilman Paper Company The Gilman Paper Company was an American paper producer founded by Isaac Gilman in the 1880s in the village of Fitzdale, Vermont, which would later be renamed Gilman, Vermont. History Gilman Paper Company's founder, Isaac Gilman, emigrated from U ...

on January 11, 1999, and operated initially under the Gilman name. The Gilman Paper Company separated the railroad by establishing a

limited liability corporation A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

operating under the name of Saint Marys Railroad, LLC. On December 17, 1999, the paper plant and railroad were purchased by the Durango Paper Company (changing its name in 2000 to the Durango-Georgia Company) and the railroad was renamed the Durango Railroad. All federal reporting requirements for the railroad were filed under that name. The company declined to change its

reporting marks A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...

however, thus the locomotives and rolling stock continued to use the St. Marys Railroad name. The Durango Paper Company closed its doors in 2002 after two industrial accidents at the plant resulted in nearly $200,000 in fines from

OSHA OSHA or Osha may refer to: Work * Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency of the United States that regulates workplace safety and health * Occupational Safety and Health Act (United States) of 1970, a federal law in the Un ...

. All employees of the paper plant lost their jobs, putting the future of the railroad in doubt. The railroad continues to operate and the St. Marys Railroad right-of-way and assets remain intact. The railroad has always maintained its own locomotives and cars with a fully equipped shop facility in St. Marys. In January 2007, the St. Marys Railroad, LLC was purchased by the

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

-based Boatright Companies. The railroad continues to be fully operational with no change in its reporting marks.

Current

Currently the St. Marys Railroad leases two locomotives; ex-NS 2379 (MP15DC, built as SOU 2379) and ex-NS 2389 (MP15DC, ex-SOU 2389). Annually, St. Marys Railroad moves approximately 1100 carloads of freight and 2000 railcars placed in and out of storage.

Interchanges

The only connection to other railroads along the 11 mile route is to the

First Coast Railroad The First Coast Railroad is a class III railroad operating in Florida and Georgia, owned by Genesee & Wyoming. The name is derived from its area of operations around the First Coast of Florida. The FCRD was founded in April 2005 to lease 32 miles ...

Kingsland Kingsland may refer to: Places ;Barbados * Kingsland, Barbados (in Christ Church, Barbados Parish) ;Canada * Kingsland, Calgary, Alberta, a neighborhood ;Australia * proposed alternative name for the Northern Territory in 1912 ;New Zealand * Kings ...

References

External links

St. Marys RR Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Railroad Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Regional railroads in the United States

History

Current

Interchanges

See also

References

External links