Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad The Savannah and Albany Railroad was chartered by Savannah interests in 1847 in an effort to provide a seaport connection for the expanding trade of southwest Georgia. Albany, the region's trade center, had developed at the head of navigation on the Flint River, but the stream's relatively small size and the lack of suitable harbor facilities at Appalachicola made it difficult to ship cotton to the outside world. In 1854, the railroad's name was changed to Savannah, Albany and Gulf Railroad, reflecting the desire to continue the rails from Savannah beyond Albany to the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, Brunswick was also seeking to build a railroad to Albany and Florida, one that could possibly divert the southwestern trade to its port rather than Savannah's. Brunswick had less capital available than did Savannah, but it had an advantage in that the charter for its railroad, the Brunswick and Florida, gave it a monopoly over the planned route of the two lines. The solution was a compromise between the Savannah and Brunswick companies in which each would build to a point in southeast Georgia from which a new single line would proceed further west. That new line, the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad, known unofficially as the Main Trunk Railroad, was chartered in 1856. The SA&G was consolidated into the Atlantic & Gulf in 1863. Civil War period map (138K)   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home