20-519: The Waycross Air Line Railroad , chartered in 1887, was an air-line railroad in Georgia . It began operations between Waycross and Sessoms in 1890. In 1901, the railroad had extended as far as Fitzgerald, Georgia , at which time its charter was amended for an extension to Birmingham, Alabama , and it was renamed the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad . That company purchased the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad and Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway on December 3, 1903, changing its name to
40-499: A strike at the end of the day on December 10, 1905, following a unanimous vote in favor of striking. In 1906, the company was merged into the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad , which was formed in 1905 specifically to purchase and extend the Atlantic and Birmingham. The AB&A's charter authorized it to build from the existing terminus of the Atlantic and Birmingham at Montezuma to
60-602: The New York Daily Times ran a satirical article mocking the trend, suggesting that the fad for an "air line" name was being used to float dubious investments: When actual air travel began in the United States, the older usage of the phrase "air line" led to confusion. During a spate of interest in aviation shares on Wall Street following Charles A. Lindbergh 's trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, Seaboard Air Line shares actually attracted some investor curiosity because of
80-957: The Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad , a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad . Twenty years later, the ACL formally purchased the ABC railroad. Most of the route built by the Waycross Air Line Railroad and its successors remained in service with the Atlantic Coast Line, and continued following the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad merger in 1967, the formation of the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982, and finally absorption into CSX Transportation in 1986. CSX abandoned or truncated several branches of
100-671: The Atlantic and Birmingham Railway in April 1904. The Atlantic and Birmingham then became part of the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad (AB&A) when it took over the A&;B network on April 12, 1906. The Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1926. The Atlantic Coast Line operated the AB&;A network as the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad (AB&C) until 1946, when they fully merged
120-444: The Atlantic and Birmingham Railway . In 1906, the Atlantic and Birmingham Railway was in turn purchased by the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway , which continued expansion towards Birmingham. The Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway changed hands again in 1926, becoming the Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad , a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad . The original Waycross Air Line Railroad main line survived
140-587: The Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad , was purchased in 1904. The Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad was faced with a strike in December 1905. The company's locomotive engineers and firemen had demanded better pay, shorter hours of work, and protection from being summarily fired, demands the railroad refused to accept. As a result, the company's employees, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen , began
160-764: The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad , and the acquisition of the Family Lines ( CRR , L&N , GA , AWP ) into the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982. The remaining segment was known as the Alma Subdivision . After the Seaboard System became CSX Transportation , the line between Sessoms and Alma was abandoned in 1986. The railroad's former headquarters are today the Ritz Theatre in the Brunswick Old Town Historic District . A small segment of
180-535: The 1967 ACL and SAL merger into the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad , the acquisition of the Family Lines ( CRR , L&N , GA , AWP ) into the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982 and finally absorption into the Chessie System to become part of CSX in 1987. As of 2022, it remains in service as an important CSX Transportation line, known as the Fitzgerald Subdivision . The Waycross Air Line Railroad
200-519: The AB&C into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. This gave the Atlantic Coast Line a second line to Brunswick (their first route to Brunswick was the former Brunswick and Western Railroad ). The segment of the line built between Brunswick, Georgia and Alma, Georgia was abandoned by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1953. The remainder of the line survived the 1967 merger of the ACL and Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) to form
220-451: The WALR expanded, first to Bolen, Georgia , and then further to Nicholls, Georgia . Work on an extension of the line to the city of Fitzgerald, Georgia began on August 15, 1900. Service to that city started on February 26, 1901, following the completion of a new passenger station; a freight station was under construction and planned to open shortly after the passenger station. At the same time,
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#1732858133643240-473: The city of Birmingham, along with a new branch line to Atlanta . Under the AB&A, the railroad finally reached Birmingham in the middle of 1908. However, the company soon ran into financial troubles and was forced into receivership in 1909; it exited receivership in 1915 as the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway. More financial problems led to a foreclosure in 1922, before being again reorganized in 1926 as
260-474: The company also announced plans to expand beyond Fitzgerald in a northwestern direction. The company's directors decided to rename the Waycross Air Line Railroad to the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad on October 25, 1901, as part of a charter modification allowing further expansion. The new name was chosen to indicate the company's plans to connect Birmingham, Alabama , with the Atlantic Ocean. At this point,
280-471: The company had expanded from its initial seven miles to 150 miles (240 km). Starting from Fitzgerald, new tracks reached Cordele, Georgia on May 25, 1902. The following year additional construction was completed from Cordele as far as Montezuma, Georgia , where the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad met the Central of Georgia Railway . Plans for construction the rest of the way to Birmingham were underway, with
300-495: The company launching surveys of a proposed route. The Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad purchased two smaller railroads in 1903, including the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad and the Tifton, Thomasville and Gulf Railway , between them adding an additional 81 miles (130 km) of track. As part of this merger, the company changed its name from the Atlantic and Birmingham Railroad to the Atlantic and Birmingham Railway. Another railroad,
320-480: The former system in the 1980s and 1990s, but the majority of it continues in service. The original Waycross Air Line Railroad, along with the extension built by the AB&A to Birmingham, serves as CSX's primary route between Florida and the Midwestern United States, and has been upgraded in portions with double track and concrete ties. Air-line railroad An air-line railroad was a railroad that
340-415: The name's aviation-related connotations; only after noticing that Seaboard Air Line was actually a railroad did investors lose interest. Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad The Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad (B&B) was a railroad in southeastern United States . Its main route ran from Brunswick, Georgia to Sessoms (just east of Nicholls, Georgia ). The Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad
360-510: Was chartered on December 11, 1900. In 1902–03, it built a 49-mile (79 km) line from Brunswick, Georgia to Offerman, Georgia and a 19-mile (31 km) line from Bushnell, Georgia to Ocilla, Georgia . The B&B purchased the Offerman and Western Railroad on July 1, 1902, and the Ocilla and Irwinville Railroad on February 19, 1903. The railroad ran into financial troubles and was purchased by
380-637: Was originally chartered on October 24, 1887, by the Waycross Lumber Company, which owned a sawmill in Waltertown, Georgia, a distance of seven miles (11 km) from Waycross. Before chartering the Waycross Air Line Railroad, the company had previously operated a short railroad between its mill and Waycross; this formed the beginnings of the WALR. The railroad formally opened in 1890, with 25 miles (40 km) of track from Waycross to Sessoms, Georgia. Following an acquisition by Stilwell, Miller and Company,
400-435: Was relatively straight, following a shorter (and thus, presumably quicker) route instead of a longer, winding route. In their heyday, which was prior to aviation, they were often referred to simply as "air lines". Webster's 1913 dictionary gives the definition "Air line, a straight line; a bee line. Hence Air-line, adj.; as, air-line road." Air line railroads began to be built in the mid-nineteenth century. As early as 1853,
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