The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA) also seen as "WofA" was created as the Western Railroad of Alabama by the owners of the Montgomery & West Point Railroad (M&WP) in 1860. It was built to further the M&WP's development West from

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...

. When the line was constructed in 1870, the M&WP was merged into the WRA, creating a line from Selma to

West Point, Georgia West Point is a city in Troup County, Georgia, Troup and Harris County, Georgia, Harris counties in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is located approximately halfway between Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta ...

. It served Auburn, Alabama and connected in Opelika, Alabama to the

Central of Georgia 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 ...

line 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 ...

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 ...

. Although it was partially owned by the

around the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, it did not end up being owned by Norfolk Southern when that company came into existence due to the merger of the CofG's parent, the Southern Railway, and the Norfolk & Western Railway. In the 1980s, the line and its sister railroads, the Atlanta & West Point Railroad and the Georgia Railroad, became part of the

Family Lines System Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

, along with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the

Louisville & Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

and the Clinchfield Railroad. The lines were all later renamed Seaboard System Railroad, which in 1986 merged with the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated und ...

to become

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. ...

. The WRA still sees regular freight service. Passenger service ceased January 7, 1970.

References

External links

Georgia Railroad History Pages
* Defunct Alabama railroads Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Former Class I railroads in the United States Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama Predecessors of CSX Transportation Railway companies established in 1883 Railway companies disestablished in 2002 Seaboard System Railroad {{US-ClassI-rail-transport-stub