Central of Georgia Railway


The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was constructed to join the Macon and Western Railroad at Macon, Georgia, in the United States, and run to Savannah. This created a rail link from Chattanooga, on the Tennessee River, to seaports on the Atlantic Ocean. It took from 1837 to 1843 to build the railroad from Savannah to the eastern bank of the Ocmulgee River at Macon; a bridge into the city was not built until 1851.
During the Savannah Campaign of the American Civil War, conducted during November and December 1864, federal troops tore up the rails and converted them into "Sherman's neckties."

Acquisitions

Over the years, this railroad steadily acquired other railroads by either lease or purchase:
In 1888, the Richmond Terminal Company, a Virginia holding company, gained control of the Central. The financial problems of the parent company forced the CofG into bankruptcy, and it was sold at foreclosure three years later, being reorganized as the Central of Georgia Railway on November 1, 1895.
In 1907 railroad magnate and financier E. H. Harriman gained a controlling interest in the railway, and in 1909 sold his interest to the Illinois Central Railroad, which he also controlled. In 1932, during the Great Depression, the CofG went into receivership, from which it did not emerge until 1948. In 1956, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, seeking a route to Atlantic Ocean ports, gained control of the CofG, but the Interstate Commerce Commission declined to approve a merger of the two roads, so the Frisco sold its CofG stock to the Southern Railway in 1963.
At the end of 1956 the CofG operated of road and of track; that year it reported 3208 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 73 million passenger-miles. Those totals do not include the Savannah and Atlanta, the L&W, the Wadley Southern or the Wrightsville and Tennille.
The CofG became a Southern Railway subsidiary on June 17, 1963. In 1971 the Southern formed the Central of Georgia Railroad to merge the Central of Georgia Railway, the Savannah and Atlanta Railway, and the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad.

Passenger operations

The famous passenger train the Nancy Hanks II ran from Atlanta to Savannah, via Macon. It had the two added on the end to distinguish it from a short lived train the Central sal in the 1890s. Another notable train was the Man o' War, a Columbus - Atlanta route, via Newnan. Both of these trains were named after prize-winning racehorses. When Amtrak took control of the Southern Railway's passenger service in 1971, The Southern decided to discontinue the aforementioned trains.
Into the mid-1950s, the CofG, with the Alabama & Saint Andrews Bay Railroad, operated passenger trains headed for the Gulf Coast resort city Panama City, Florida.
Long distance inter-state trains operated on Central of Georgia tracks as part of their itineraries:
City of Miami, Southland, Flamingo and Seminole.
Well into the 1960s, CofG trains remained segregated, long after most Southern railroads abolished racial bars following a desegregation order by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The CofG only operated in Georgia, and some parts of Alabama, and was thus not engaged in interstate commerce.

In recent years

Today the Central of Georgia exists only as a paper railroad within the Norfolk Southern Railway group. of the CofG's former mainline are currently leased by the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway from the State of Georgia.

Preserved historic sites

A number of former properties of Central of Georgia are preserved as historic sites. These include the following, listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
Engines
Central of Georgia Railway 509 Central City Park Macon, Ga
Central of Georgia Railway 349 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Chattanooga, Tn
Central of Georgia Railway 1 Georgia State Railroad Museum Savannah, Ga
Central of Georgia Railway 223 Georgia State Railroad Museum Savannah, Ga
Central of Georgia Railway 109 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Chattanooga, Tn
Central of Georgia Railway 201, currently painted as Southern Railway 197, at Virginia Museum of Transportation
Rolling Stock
Jim Crow Passenger Car 606 and 607 built by the Pullman Company in 1911 To serve The Central Of Georgia's growing passenger demand and both are currently owned by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
Passenger Car 660 built by American Car and Foundry for service on the Nancy Hanks II in 1947 and is currently on display in Meridian, Mississippi.
Passenger Car 661 built by American Car and Foundry for service on the Nancy Hanks II in 1947 and is currently owned by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
Passenger Car 662 built by American Car and Foundry in 1947 for use on the Nancy Hanks II and is currently owned by the Southeastern Railway Museum.
Jim Crow Passenger Car 527 built by Pullman in 1924, later used on The Seminole. It is currently owned by the Southeastern Railway Museum.
Jim Crow Passenger Car 906 built by Pullman in 1924 as 623, later becoming 528. 528 served on the Man O'War as the only heavyweight, and was painted aluminium to match the lightweight cars from 1951-1954. It was later painted autumn harvest and used on The Seminole. Finally the car saw service on the Southern Steam Specials before coming to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
Jim Crow Passenger Car 907 built by the American Car & Foundry. 907 was built in 1947 as 543 to serve The Central Of Georgia's growing passenger demand in the Post-War period as a lightweight. It is currently owned by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.

Heritage units

On April 5, 2012, Norfolk Southern unveiled NS 8101, a GE ES44AC painted in the scheme found on Central of Georgia's diesel locomotives. It was the fourth of 20 units that NS painted in the colors of their predecessors.