Wadley & Mount Vernon Railroad The first 16 miles of the W&MV, from Wadley southwards, was built as a logging road. A 13-mile extension of the line to Ricksville was completed in 1889. According to Poors 1895 Manual, the entire property was sold to the Wadley and Mount Vernon Railroad Company, chartered April 30, 1890, which intended to connect its namesake towns via a 54-mile line. Some time later, however, the original plans changed and the W&MV set its sights farther, to lands south of the Ocmulgee River. The line was extended to Rockledge in 1902 and to the Oconee River soon afterwards. At Barrows Bluff on the Ocmulgee, the W&MV built a line south to Douglas between 1902 and 1904. No additional trackage was ever constructed. Perhaps the costs of bridging both the Oconee and the Ocmulgee were too great for the W&MV to bear. The short section of track from Rockledge to the Oconee River was abandoned around 1905, and the Douglas-Barrows Bluff line was sold to the Douglas, Augusta, and Gulf Railroad the following year. The Central of Georgia bought the W&MV in 1906 and merged it with the Stillmore Air Line Railway to form the Wadley Southern Railway. 1892 map (57K) 1900 map (90K) 1908 map (36K) Timetable from Official Guide of the Railways, January 1896.   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home