Southern Railway Southern Railway was chartered in 1894 as successor to the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company, a holding company which owned or controlled several rail lines in the South, including the Richmond and Danville Railroad, the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway, the Georgia Southern & Florida Railroad, and the Alabama Great Southern Railroad. In 1895, Southern bought the 105-mile Atlanta and Florida Railway. In 1896, Southern leased the 100-mile Georgia Midland Railway. Southern Railway gained control of the South Carolina and Georgia and the Augusta Southern in 1899. (The Augusta Southern was sold to the Georgia and Florida in 1917.) Southern acquired the Central of Georgia Railway and the Georgia and Florida in 1963. (The G&F was merged into the Central in 1971.) In 1966, Southern acquired the Georgia Northern and the Albany and Northern. In 1971, Southern purchased the Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia Railway. Also in 1971, Southern merged its South Georgia Railroad and Live Oak, Perry and Gulf Railroad to form the Live Oak, Perry and South Georgia Railway, running from Adel, Georgia to Perry, Florida. In 1972, Southern merged the Albany and Northern, the Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester, and Camilla, and the Georgia Northern into a single subsidiary. In 1980, Southern and Norfolk & Western announced an agreement to merge into a combined system encompassing over 17,000 miles of track. On June 1, 1982, the merger was completed and the Norfolk Southern Railway was born. Suggested Reading: Burke Davis. The Southern Railway; Road of the Innovators. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985. Maury Klein. The Great Richmond Terminal; A Study in Businessmen and Business Strategy. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1970. Sallie Loy, Dick Hillman, and C. Pat Cates. The Southern Railway. (Images of America series). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2004. Sallie Loy, Dick Hillman, and C. Pat Cates. The Southern Railway: Further Recollections. (Images of Rail series). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2005. Tom Murray. Southern Railway. (MBI Railroad Color History). Osceola, WI: Voyageur Press, 2007. Abandonments: Roswell - Chamblee (old Roswell Railroad) abandoned 1923. Villa Rica Branch abandoned 1925. Roseland - Williamson (part of old Atlanta & Florida) abandoned 1939. Coosa - Alabama (part of old Rome & Decatur) abandoned 1948. Cornelia, Ga - Franklin, N.C. (Tallulah Falls Railway) abandoned 1961. Hawkinsville - W&T Junction abandoned 1975. Albany - Cordele (old Albany and Northern) abandoned 1977. Williamson - Roberta (part of old Atlanta & Florida) abandoned 1977. McDonough - Griffin (old Georgia Midland) abandoned 1979. Hedges - Ewing (part of old TAG) abandoned 1982. Douglas - Hazlehurst (part of old Georgia & Florida) abandoned in 1983. Rome - Alabama line (part of old Selma, Rome and Dalton) abandoned in 1984. Rover - Columbus (part of old Georgia Midland) abandoned 1988. Pavo - Moultrie (part of old Georgia Northern) abandoned 1990. Camilla - Bridgeboro (19 miles, part of old Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester, and Camilla) abandoned in mid-1990s. For other abandonments, see subsidiary lines (e.g., Central of Georgia). 1895 map (286K) 1944 map (101K) Southern Railway in Georgia -- "family tree" More info at Southern Railway Historical Association   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home