Georgia Railroad The Georgia Railroad Company was chartered December 21, 1833, by a group of Athens citizens lead by James Camak. Their goal was to build a railroad from Athens to Augusta. Construction began in 1835, starting at Augusta. The company changed its name to Georgia Railroad & Banking Company in 1836. (When the banking side of the business eventually proved more rewarding, the company leased its railroad operations to others.) The 39-mile Athens branch, completed in December 1841, was operated with horse drawn cars until 1847. Originally built as 5-ft. gauge track, it was rebuilt to standard gauge in 1886. The Atlanta branch was completed in 1845 and soon the 171-mile Augusta-Atlanta connection became the main line. It was also a key link in a through line from Charleston to Memphis formed by the Georgia, the South Carolina Railroad, the Western & Atlantic, and the Memphis & Charleston. Early on, Augustans gained control from Athens interests, with Augustan John Pendleton King serving as president of the railroad from 1841 to 1878. The railroad's chief engineer was John Edgar Thomson, who assumed that post in 1834. Thomson later became chief engineer of the new Pennsylvania Railroad and, in 1852, its president. The city of Thomson, in McDuffie County, was named for him. The 78-mile branch line between Camak and Macon, completed in 1873 by the Macon and Augusta Railroad, was merged into the Georgia Railroad system in 1878. The branch, which the Georgia Railroad had leased in 1867 while it was still under construction, was nicknamed the Macon Road. The Georgia Railroad & Banking Company had made early investments in the Atlanta & West Point Railroad and the Western Railway of Alabama which together connected Atlanta and Montgomery. By the 1880s, the company owned a controlling interest in the former and a substantial interest in the latter and, as a result, had created a small but important rail system that spanned the Georgia piedmont and reached as far west as Alabama's capital city of Montgomery. In 1881, the Georgia Railroad was leased for 99 years to Colonel William M. Wadley, president of the Central of Georgia Railway. Wadley assigned the lease jointly to the Louisville & Nashville and the Central of Georgia. In 1883 the lessees acquired controlling interests in the Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern Railroad and the Walton Railroad. The 1890s turned out to be difficult years for the Georgia's lessees. The Central entered receivership in 1892 and the L&N struggled to maintain its independence and secure its territory from stronger rival systems. In 1898 the reorganized Central sold its half-interest in the Georgia lease to the L&N, which then briefly controlled the entire Georgia system. The following year the L&N assigned the half-interest to the Atlantic Coast Line. In 1902 ACL gained control of L&N through purchase of its stock but allowed it to continue operating independently. In 1967, ACL merged with Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line. The Georgia Railroad continued to maintain its separate identity, at least for a while. From 1972 until the early 1980s it was marketed as part of the “Family Lines System”, a name used jointly by SCL and L&N and their subsidiaries, the Georgia, the Clinchfield, the Atlanta & West Point, and the Western Railway of Alabama (the last two previously operating under the nickname West Point Route). In 1982-83, SCL and L&N merged to form the Seaboard System Railroad which quickly absorbed the Georgia. In 1986 the Seaboard System became CSX Transportation. Suggested Reading: Robert H. Hanson, Safety-Courtesy-Service; History of the Georgia Railroad (Johnson City, TN: The Overmountain Press, 1996). Beckum, W. Forrest, Jr., and Albert M. Langley, Jr., Georgia Railroad Album (North Augusta, S.C.: Union Station Publishing, 1985). Abandonments and other changes: The Macon-Milledgeville section was abandoned in 1985. Camak-to-Milledgeville remains in service in part to deliver coal to Plant Harlee Branch north of Milledgeville. The former Union Point and White Plains Railroad, built in 1889 and owned by the Georgia, was abandoned in 1927. The 40-mile section from Union Point to Athens, built in 1841, was abandoned by Seaboard System in November 1984. For more information and photos on this line, see athensrails.com.) The Washington Branch, an 18-mile line between Barnett and Washington, is now operated by the Georgia Woodlands Railroad. The 10- mile Monroe Railroad, which operated as a branch of the Georgia Railroad connecting Monroe to the main line at Social Circle, is now the Great Walton Railroad. 1870 timetable (176K)  1895 map (138K) 1895 timetables (359K) 1914 map (228K) 1917 timetables (340K) 1969 map (80K)   CSX diesel no. 5944 at the Warren County town of Camak in February 2003. Here the Georgia Railroad's Macon line branched off the Augusta-Atlanta main line. The Macon line doesn't go to Macon any more, but the main line, now more than 160 years old, continues in service under CSX.   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home