Gainesville Midland Railway The Gainesville Midland, chartered in 1904, purchased most of the property of the Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern Railroad under a foreclosure sale the same year. It acquired a two-pronged, narrow-gauge line connecting Gainesville, Jefferson, and Monroe. In 1906, the GM constructed a extension south from Jefferson to a connection with the Seaboard Air Line two miles west of Athens at Fowler Junction. From there, GM trains continued to Athens through a trackage rights agreement with SAL. The Athens extension was built at standard gauge but the rest of the line was still a narrow-gauge operation. The tracks from Jefferson to Gainesville were the first to be converted, in 1908. It was not until 1913 that the Monroe branch's tracks were widened. In 1947-48 the GM abandoned the Monroe branch (Belmont to Monroe). Among the communities losing rail service were Braselton, Hoschton, and Bethlehem. In 1959, GM’s 40-mile line from Gainesville to Athens was sold to Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Suggested Reading: Douglas van Veelen. The Gainesville Midland and her Sister Short Lines. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006.  1906 timetable (25K) 1929 timetable (192K) 1931 map of Monroe branch (65K) 1955 map (51K) GM No. 209 on display in downtown Gainesville (This photo and above).   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home