Organized in 1833 by Savannah businessmen, the Central of Georgia Railway was chartered by the Georgia Legislature as the Central Rail Road & Canal Company. The line, connecting Savannah to the interior of the state, boosted the coastal city's seaport, which had lost business to Charleston because of the South Carolina Rail Road's inland reach. In 1843, the Central was extended from Savannah to the outskirts of Macon, and after nearly 120 years of successful operation, the Central of Georgia Railway was purchased by Southern Railway. By 1982, it became merely an accounting entry in the books of Norfolk Southern, a major transportation company.
For more than four decades, the Atlanta Northern Railway transported passengers between Atlanta and Marietta. The Atlanta Northern, owned by a precursor of Georgia Power, provided an invaluable transportation link for workers employed by industries along the line. Little remains of the former Atlanta-to-Marietta line, its right-of- way obliterated by modern development and its history largely forgotten. Todd DeFeo is the author of several railroad history books, including the first-ever complete histories of the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville and the Indiana, Alabama & Texas; and Western & Atlantic railroads.
Atlanta! The very name evokes a sense of grandeur and splendor and an aura of dominance. Indeed, today's Atlanta has no rival. Present-day Atlanta prides itself in having one of the largest and busiest airports in the world, and 100 years ago, it boasted of having the busiest railroad center in the South. At its peak, its passenger stations dispatched countless numbers of trains to every major city in the country. This book recalls the building of the many stations that faithfully served Atlanta and records, with the exception of one, their final reduction to piles of rubble when they were of no further use, only to be remembered on paper and in the memories of those fortunate enough to have witnessed them.
A fascinating railroad stretching from Memphis to Atlanta, the NC&St.L has a history beginning in 1840, and stretching through the Civil War to a merger with its parent line in 1957. The photos, diagrams, and maps presented in this book will help you understand the development and operation of the line as a key link between Memphis and the Appalachians. The railroad used Mikados, Pacifics, and Mountain types, as well as the first 4-8-4s in the South. Leading the way were the bullet-nosed, semi-streamlined J3 class 4-8-4s known as the "Yellow Jackets". Also featured in the book are model railroads that use the NC&St.L as a prototype. Written in an easily readable style, this book will interest all fans of railroading in the South.
This is a comprehensive, illustrated account of the growth and decline of American narrow gauge railroading. It documents a long-gone era, bringing to life ancient steam locomotives, railroads and rolling stock that have mostly disappeared without trace. The basic facts and information on the subject are heavily illustrated with photographs, drawings and maps, presented in an encyclopedia format.
As a vehicle to convey both the history of modern China and the complex forces still driving the nation’s economic success, rail has no equal. Railroads and the Transformation of China is the first comprehensive history, in any language, of railroad operation from the last decades of the Qing Empire to the present. China’s first fractured lines were built under semicolonial conditions by competing foreign investors. The national system that began taking shape in the 1910s suffered all the ills of the country at large: warlordism and Japanese invasion, Chinese partisan sabotage, the Great Leap Forward when lines suffered in the “battle for steel,” and the Cultural Revolution, during which Red Guards were granted free passage to “make revolution” across the country, nearly collapsing the system. Elisabeth Köll’s expansive study shows how railroads survived the rupture of the 1949 Communist revolution and became an enduring model of Chinese infrastructure expansion. The railroads persisted because they were exemplary bureaucratic institutions. Through detailed archival research and interviews, Köll builds case studies illuminating the strength of rail administration. Pragmatic management, combining central authority and local autonomy, sustained rail organizations amid shifting political and economic priorities. As Köll shows, rail provided a blueprint for the past forty years of ambitious, semipublic business development and remains an essential component of the PRC’s politically charged, technocratic economic model for China’s future.
