 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Reporting mark | AGS |
| Locale | Chattanooga, TN-Meridian, MS (New Orleans, LA from 1969) |
| Dates of operation | 1877–present |
| Successor | Southern Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
| Previous gauge | |
| Length | 1,084 miles (1,745 km) |
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TheAlabama Great Southern Railroad (reporting markAGS) is arailroad in theU.S. states ofAlabama,Georgia,Louisiana,Mississippi, andTennessee. It is anoperating subsidiary of theNorfolk Southern Corporation (NS),[2] running southwest fromChattanooga (where it connects with the similarly ownedCincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway) toNew Orleans throughBirmingham andMeridian. The AGS also owns about a 30% interest in theCanadian Pacific Kansas City-controlled Meridian-ShreveportMeridian Speedway.[3]
In 1970 AGS reported 3854 million net ton-miles (5627 million net tonne-kilometers) of revenue freight and 105 million passenger miles (169 million passenger kilometers); at the end of that year it operated 528 miles (850 km) of road and 1,084 miles (1,745 km) of track. (Those totals do not include Class II subsidiaryLouisiana Southern.)
The AGS's oldest predecessor was theWills Valley Railroad, chartered by theAlabama Legislature in February 1852 to extend from a point on theAlabama and Tennessee River Railroad northeast to theGeorgia state line.[4] In January and February 1854, respectively, the Georgia andTennessee legislatures authorized the company to continue its road to a point on theNashville and Chattanooga Railroad.[5][6] TheNorth East and South West Alabama Railroad was chartered in Alabama in December 1853 andMississippi in February 1854, to extend fromMeridian throughLivingston,Eutaw,Tuscaloosa, andElyton (Birmingham) in the direction ofKnoxville, Tennessee.[7][8][9] Both companies receivedland grants through a June 1856 federal law,[10] assigned by Alabama in January 1858 to the North East and South West from Mississippi to nearGadsden and to the Wills Valley from near Gadsden to Georgia.[11]
The two companies began construction from their termini outside Alabama. The Wills Valley opened the line from the Nashville and Chattanooga atWauhatchie, Tennessee toTrenton, Georgia by December 1860, operating to Chattanooga viatrackage rights over the Nashville and Chattanooga.[12] The North East and South West began its line at Meridian, reaching a connection with theAlabama and Mississippi Rivers Railroad (later theSelma and Meridian Railroad) atYork, Alabama by 1860, and was leased to the latter company.[13] A group of Boston capitalists headed byJohn C. Stanton gained control of the companies after theCivil War, and the legislature passed a law in November 1868 to merge the two as theAlabama and Chattanooga Railroad. (Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi renamed their portions in March 1869, February 1870, and May 1871, respectively.) The entire line was completed in May 1871, creating a diagonal link across Alabama.[14] However, due to nonpayment of interest on state bonds, the state of Alabama seized the property in mid-1871, and it was operated by other parties (including the president of the connectingNew Orleans and Northeastern Railroad) until November 1877, when it was reorganized as the Alabama Great Southern Railroad byEmile Erlanger and Company.[8][9]
Erlanger set up anEnglish corporation,Alabama Great Southern Railway Company, Limited, to own the stock of the AGS. In 1881, this company gained control of theCincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway, which continued north from Chattanooga toCincinnati. A second English corporation,Alabama, New Orleans, Texas and Pacific Junction Railways Company, Limited, was created in 1881 to increase the funds available to purchase associated lines. It bought the Alabama Great Southern Railway Company,New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad,Vicksburg and Meridian Railway, andVicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad, but in 1890 control of the AGS was sold to theEast Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway andRichmond and Danville Railroad, which both became part of theSouthern Railway later that decade.[9][15] In April 1892, the AGS acquired theGadsden and Attalla Railroad, a branch fromAttalla toGadsden, but in 1905 the AGS sold it to the Southern, retainingtrackage rights. The AGS bought a half interest in theWoodstock and Blocton Railway from theLouisville and Nashville Railroad in July 1909, giving it access toWest Blocton.[13]
The AGS incorporated theWauhatchie Extension Railway in April 1914 to continue the line from Wauhatchie to a junction with the Southern subsidiaryMemphis-Chattanooga Railway west ofLookout Mountain. The property became part of the AGS in February 1917 and was completed later that year, giving the AGS a new route into Chattanooga, via the extension,trackage rights over the Memphis-Chattanooga, and a lease of theBelt Railway of Chattanooga.[8]
By the summer of 1954, the AGS retired all of their steam locomotives. In January 1969, at the same time as the Southern gained total control over the AGS, it merged theNew Orleans and Northeastern Railroad into the AGS.[16][17][18] The AGS absorbed theChattanooga Terminal Railway,Louisiana Southern Railway, andNew Orleans Terminal Company in August 1993.[19][20]
Southern Railway trains ran over the territory of the AGS. TheQueen and Crescent ran on its territory until its termination in 1949.[21] TheBirmingham Special ran on the AGS' Chattanooga to Birmingham segment until its discontinuance in 1970. ThePelican also ran on its entire length, lasting to 1970. TheSoutherner ran on its territory southwest of Birmingham until its termination in 1970.[22] Today,Amtrak'sCrescent operates on its territory southwest of Birmingham.
