By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 26, 2019 | In the mail recently I got a new book by a local author.
The author is Robert (Bob) Hanson of Loganville. His new book is a handsome 8.5×11 inches, 156 page “The Railroads of Georgia, 1833-2000.” It’s from Garbely Publishing of Branchville, New Jersey. You can order it from the publisher at $40.
Some of you may know that Bob is an authority on railroads, and has previously written two books on Georgia railroads, the Georgia Railroad and the West Point Route. He’s even a registered practitioner before the Interstate Commerce Commission, now called the Surface Transportation Board.
Bob’s new book concentrates on describing the many railroads that have been in Georgia. There have been over 850 railroads chartered, and 346 built tracks in Georgia since railroads came into being. The high year was 1917, when 67 companies were operating in the state, with 7,457 miles of trackage.
The very first railroad in the state was Georgia Railroad, May 10,1837, westward from Augusta. One day later, the Central of Georgia was chartered in Milledgeville, but did not begin operations westward from Savannah until 1838.
Hanson
What amazes me is that even small cities and towns of Georgia seems to have wanted their own railroad, no doubt in hopes that this would bring prosperity and development their way. Many were short lived, and many didn’t have many miles of track, but connected with another larger railroad to bring service to their town.
This book lists the railroads all alphabetically, starting with The Abbeville and Tifton Railroad back in 1890, and its 40 miles of track, to the Wrightsville and Tennille providing service to Hawkinsville, Dublin and Eastman, in all 104.42 miles of track. Most of the railroads in the book have only brief information about them, such as when they were started, and key incidents in the history. Most do not operate today.
But in between are the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, Milledgeville Railway, The Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad. A year later it was reorganized as the Tallulah Falls Railroad which extended service to Franklin, N.C.
Of course, the major surviving railroads of today are listed with more detail about them. So you have the Norfolk Southern; the Seaboard Coast Line; and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
This book is crammed with photos, really about half the book, showing engines, stations, maps, coaches, stock certificates. About half the book is illustrated.
Enjoying celebration train ride.
The Gwinnett railroads of course are in the book, including the Lawrenceville Branch Railroad, Lawrenceville to Suwanee, a distance of 9.61 miles. It began operation in 1877, and ended operations in 1920. Then there’s the Loganville and Lawrenceville Railroad, 10.33 miles, which operated from 1898 to 1902. Then the trackage was taken over by the Seaboard, which shut down the line in 1932.
One of my favorites, the Macon, Dublin and Savannah, some 92 miles, but did not go to Savannah. It ended in Vidalia. I remember it went through Allentown, where my grandmother lived. I also remember one of my uncles returning from World War II service on the West Coast, and the whole family greeting him as he stepped off the MD&S.
The current Norfolk Southern line through Gwinnett began as the Atlanta and Richmond Air Line Railroad. But its service originally went only 262 miles to Charlotte, N.C.
Bob Hanson has done railroad buffs, and those who love history, quite a service in this 50 year compilation of railroads in Georgia, which did not start as a book, but his own collection of facts. Thank you, Bob.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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