East & West Railroad of Alabama After receiving its charter in February of 1882, the E&W began constructing a winding narrow-gauge rail line from Esom Hill in western Polk County, Georgia, to Broken Arrow, Alabama over a distance of 64 miles. It opened its first section of track in October of that year. In 1886 the company acquired the Cherokee Railroad, a 46-mile line between Esom Hill and Cartersville that it had earlier leased. According to George W. Hilton, the company planned to extend this line eastward from Cartersville to Gainesville where it would connect with the Atlanta and Charlotte Air-Line Railway. A new line from Broken Arrow to Birmingham would also be built. These various pieces would together form a fairly direct route from Birmingham to Gainesville. The E&W was never able to implement these grand plans. Its sole further construction came in 1888 when it built a short connection from Broken Arrow to the Georgia Pacific Railroad at Pell City. It entered receivership the same year. The E&W was purchased by Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1902 and made a part of Seaboard’s subsidiary Atlanta and Birmingham Air-Line Railway. Note: Broken Arrow was renamed Coal City and later renamed again to the present Wattsville. 1886 map (132K) 1894 timetable (125K)   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home