The Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway (TT&G) was a railway that operated from

Tifton, Georgia Tifton is a city in and the county seat of Tift County, Georgia, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census. The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has ...

southwest to

Thomasville, Georgia Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,881 in 2020. The city deems itself the "City of Roses" and holds an annual Rose Festival. The city features plantations open to the public, a histor ...

in the early 1900s. It later became part of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway and

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...

networks.

History

The Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway was chartered on June 26, 1897 by business interests in Tifton. It was built from Tifton to Thomasville in 1900. In Tifton, it connected with the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad, which ran northeast to

Fitzgerald, Georgia Fitzgerald is a city in and the county seat of Ben Hill County, Georgia, Ben Hill County in the south central portion of the United States, U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of 2020, its population was 9,006. It is the principal cit ...

. Both the TT&G and the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad were acquired by the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad on December 3, 1903, which was renamed the Atlantic and Birmingham Railway (A&B). This gave the Atlantic and Birmingham a continuous branch line, known as the Thomasville Branch, from Fitzgerald (where it connected to the rest of the A&B network) to Thomasville. The Atlantic and Birmingham then became part of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad (AB&A) when it took over the A&B network on April 12, 1906. The AB&A ran daily passenger trains from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

to Thomasville via Fitzgerald and Tifton on the former TT&G line. The Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad was acquired by the

in 1926. The Thomasville Branch connected with the

's Waycross—Montgomery Line in Thomasville. The Atlantic Coast Line operated the AB&A network as the

Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad The Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad was organized in 1926 to replace the bankrupt Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway. The AB&C was controlled by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which owned a majority of the stock. In 1944 it reporte ...

(AB&C) until 1946, when they fully merged the AB&C into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad continued to operate the Thomasville Branch in its entirety until 1960, when it was abandoned north of

Moultrie, Georgia Moultrie is the county seat and largest city of Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. It is the third largest city in Southwest Georgia, behind Thomasville and Albany. As of the 2020 census, Moultrie's population was 14,638. It was origina ...

. The Atlantic Coast Line became the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad 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 ...

(SCL) in 1967 after merging with their rival, the

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

(SAL). The remaining TT&G line from Thomasville to Moultrie was designated by the merged company as the Moultrie Subdivision.Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Waycross Division Timetable (1967)
/ref> In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company 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 u ...

, creating the

CSX Corporation CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merge ...

. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

. CSX abandoned track from Moultrie to

Coolidge, Georgia Coolidge is a city in Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 528 in 2020. History Coolidge had its start in 1900 when the Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway was extended to that point. The community was named after a railr ...

in 1990.

Current conditions

Today, the only remaining segment of the Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway is from Thomasville to Coolidge. It is known today as their Coolidge Industrial Spur.CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable
/ref>

Historic stations

References

External links

Georgia Northern Railway Co. v. Tifton, Thomasville & Gulf Railway Co., 109 Ga. 762 (1900) (Case Law Access Project)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tifton Thomasville Gulf Railway Defunct Georgia (U.S. state) railroads Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Railway companies established in 1897 Railway companies disestablished in 1903