Georgia Railroad and Banking Company

"Georgia Railroad" redirects here. Not to be confused withCentral of Georgia Railway.

Georgia Railroad and Banking Company

Georgia Railroad 1026, anEMD GP7—on permanent display inDuluth, Georgia.
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft8+1⁄2in(1,435 mm)standard gauge
Previous gauge	5 ft(1,524 mm) andconvertedto 4 ft 9 in(1,448 mm) in 1886
Length	331 mi (533 km)

TheGeorgia Railroad and Banking Company(reporting markGA) also seen as "GARR",was a historic railroad and banking company that operated in theU.S. stateofGeorgia.In 1967 it reported 833 million revenue-ton-miles of freight and 3 million passenger-miles; at the end of the year it operated 331 miles (533 km) of road and 510 miles (820 km) of track.

History

The company was chartered in 1833 inAugusta, Georgia.In 1835, the charter was amended to include banking. Originally the line was chartered to build a railroad from Augusta toAthens,with a branch toMadison.It wasconvertedto4 ft8+1⁄2in(1,435 mm) in 1886.

The5 ft(1,524 mm)gaugerailroad opened in 1845 withJ. Edgar Thomsonas its Chief Engineer andRichard Petersas its first Superintendent.

At that time the rates were as follows:

• 5¢ per mile for passengers
• 50¢ per 100 miles (160 km) for freight

Several other railroads were then under construction:

• TheWestern and Atlantic Railroadwas chartered to build a line from 7 miles (11 km) south of theChattahoochee River,at a point named Terminus (present-day Atlanta), toChattanooga, Tennessee(formerly Ross Landing).
• TheSouth Carolina Railroadwas building a line fromCharlestontoNorth Augusta, South Carolina(formerly Hamburg).
• TheMemphis and Charleston Railroadwas being built fromMemphisto Chattanooga.
• TheNashville and Chattanooga Railroadand theLouisville and Nashville Railroad(L&N) were both constructing rival lines betweenLouisville, Kentucky,andNashville, Tennessee.

The Georgia Railroad decided to extend the Madison branch to Terminus (Atlanta) and thereby compete with the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia (later theCentral of Georgia Railroad), which together with theMacon & Western Railroad,was competing for traffic through Charleston's rivalportofSavannah, Georgia.By 1850, this railroad had built 213 miles (343 km) of track and was up to 232 miles (373 km) by 1860.At the time, goods from theMississippiandOhiovalleys had to go by riverboat toNew Orleansand then via coastal steamships around theFlorida Keys,to get to the big population centers in the Northeast. Shipping cross-country by rail to the ports of Charleston and Savannah made perfect economic sense.

Banking

The banking side of the business was quickly more successful than the railroad side. The Georgia Railroad & Banking Company was perhaps the strongest bank in Georgia for many years. The bankers used some of their wealth to buy controlling interests in theAtlanta & West Point Railroad(A&WP) and theWestern Railway of Alabama(WofA), which provided a continuous line from Atlanta toMontgomery, Alabama,although the WofA wasstandard gauge,while all the other lines in the South were broad gauge.

Civil War

Locomotives and rolling stock of the Georgia Railroad (Ga. R. R.) and the Atlanta & West Point Railroad (A. & WPT. R. R.) in the ruined roundhouse of Atlanta, Georgia shortly after the end of the Civil War

During theAmerican Civil War,theConfederate States of Americamaintained agunpowderfactory in Augusta. Carloads of gunpowder would be transported on the Georgia Railroad to various battlefields in the "Western Campaign."

Although the Civil War saw heavy damage to railroads such as the Georgia Railroad, management used their considerable resources to restore operation as quickly as possible. The Georgia Railroad even resorted to temporarily abandoning theAthensbranch to secure enough rail to reopen its main line. After their defeat, returning Confederate soldiers were given free rides home, to the extent that the company's limited rail network would allow.

They also honored all Confederatescripissued by their bank. No depositor lost their savings even if Confederate money had no value. It helped that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company had the financial strength to honor those promises. At that time, most Southern banks were repudiating any obligations related toConfederate currency.This helped to solidify the bank's reputation as one of the premier banks in the southeastern United States, well into the 20th century.

Post-war years

Historic marker at Georgia Railroad Freight Depot in Atlanta

TheGeorgia Railroad Freight Depot,designed by architectMax Corput,was completed in 1869 and is the oldest building inDowntown Atlanta.The company was later re-chartered as the Georgia Railroad Bank, then a subsidiary of the First Railroad and Banking Company, which eventually opened banks in Atlanta under the name of First Georgia Bank. The banking operations were merged withFirst Unionin 1986 and First Union subsequently merged withWachovia Corporation(nowWells Fargo).

The Georgia Railroad Bank entered the insurance business using subsidiaries such as First of Georgia, however these were subsequently sold, at considerable profit to the company.

In 1881, Colonel William M. Wadley,Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgiapresident, leased the railroad properties of the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, including the A&WP and WofA. Wadley assigned half of the lease to his company and half to the L&N. Following thePanic of 1896,the Central went into receivership and its portion of the lease lapsed, whereupon it was eventually reassigned to theAtlantic Coast Line Railroad(ACL). In 1902, the ACL acquired controlling interest in the L&N; thus the Georgia, A&WP, and WofA became non-operating subsidiaries of the Atlantic Coast Line. In 1909, white firemen of the Georgia Railroad, organized under theBrotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen,went on amass strike.

With the building of theSavannah and Atlanta Railroad,which connected with the Georgia Railroad atWarrenton,the Georgia Railroad now competed with the Central of Georgia Railroad for traffic to and from Savannah. Soon the ACL came to dominate the Augusta interchange traffic, through itsCharleston and Western Carolina Railwaysubsidiary and via the ACL's spur from its main line atFlorence, South Carolina,in order that the Georgia Railroad could compete with theSeaboard Air Line RailroadandSouthern Railwayfor traffic from Atlanta up theEastern seaboard.

The Georgia Railroad'sAugusta Localpassenger train, waiting to depart fromAtlanta Union Stationin 1963

A 1925 timetable showed four daily roundtrips between Atlanta and Augusta.A trip on theNight Expressof that era was described by W.F Beckum.

By the opening of the 1960s, however, passenger service had been reduced to an overnight through-train from Atlanta to Augusta, continuing as anAtlantic Coast Line Railroadtrain toWilmington, North Carolina,and a day train from Atlanta, making connections at Augusta with an ACL train bound forFlorence, South Carolina.

A unique feature of the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company charter was that the state legislature gave the corporation large tax breaks, which were legally challenged on several occasions. The charter also called for daily-except-Sunday passenger service. The lawyers advised management to maintain passenger service on all lines, so as to not violate the charter. The Georgia was among the last railroads to operate both freight and inter-city passenger trains in the "Lower 48"states, into theAmtrakera.

CSX

The Georgia Railroad originally fell under common management with theAtlanta & West Point Railroadand theWestern Railway of Alabama,commonly known as "the West Point Route."

In 1967, ACL merged with theSeaboard Air Line Railroadto form theSeaboard Coast Line Railroad(SCL). SCL continued to operate the Georgia Railroad as a subsidiary alongside theLouisville & Nashville Railroadand theClinchfield Railroad.These were known collectively as the "Family Lines System." SCL continued to operate the Georgia Railroad under its initial charter; the Georgia Railroad was maintained as a separate company, with SCL leasing the rail properties. Two years later, the Georgia Railroad ended its traditional passenger service, though it continued to operate a bare-bonesmixed trainservice between Atlanta (Atlanta Union Station) and Augusta (Augusta Union Station).

In 1980, SCL merged withChessie Systemto formCSX Corporation.In 1982, SCL and L&N merged to form theSeaboard System Railroad,beginning what would be a process in which the CSX operating companies would be merged into a single railroad. The Georgia Railroad was the first to be merged away. The railroad properties of the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company, which had been operated under a lease for 90 years by CSX and its predecessors, were formally merged into Seaboard System Railroad. The mixed train service ended in 1983.

In 1986, Seaboard System Railroad renamed itselfCSX Transportation.The same year, Georgia Railroad Bank was acquired byFirst Union;most former branches are now part ofWells Fargo.A year later, Chessie System merged into CSX Transportation.

After a period of somewhat heavy use during the CSX ownership, most through traffic has been diverted from the former Georgia Railroad mainline. As of October 2018, only a single through train in each direction daily uses the line.

1867 rail timetable

Distances of depots from Atlanta

#	Name	Miles	Kilometers	Notes
1	Decatur, Georgia	6	9.7
2	Stone Mountain, Georgia	16	26
3	Lithonia, Georgia	24	39
4	Conyers, Georgia	31	50
5	Covington, Georgia	41	66
6	Social Circle, Georgia	52	84
7	Rutledge, Georgia	59	95
8	Madison, Georgia	68	109
9	Buckhead, Georgia	76	122
10	Greensboro, Georgia	88	142
11	Union Point, Georgia	95	153
12	Crawfordville, Georgia	107	172
13	Barnett, Georgia	114	183	NearU.S. Highway 278andI-20
14	Camack, Georgia	125	201	Old spelling
15	Thomson, Georgia	134	216
16	Dearing, Georgia	142	229
17	Saw Dust, Georgia	146	235	Now called Harlem
18	Berzelia, Georgia	152	245	Near Berzelia Pond
19	Belair, Georgia	162	261	Now called Grovetown
20	Augusta, Georgia	171	275

Trains departed from Atlanta at 8:55am and 7:15pm and arrived in Augusta at 6:00pm and 10:05am.

See also

• Crawford Depot (Crawford, Georgia)
• Athens Line

External links

• Georgia Railroad Bank and Trust/Wachovia Bank, N.A.at theNew Georgia Encyclopedia