Abbeville–Grimes Railway Company

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Abbeville–Grimes Railway
Reporting mark AG
Locale Southeast Alabama
Dates of operation 1989–1996
Predecessor CSX Transportation
Successor Bay Line Railroad
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length 26.9 miles (43.3 km)
Headquarters Panama City, Florida

The Abbeville–Grimes Railway Company( reporting mark AG), also known as the A&G Railroad after 1994, was a shortline railroad formerly operating from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, 26.9 miles (43.3 km). The railroad was merged with the Bay Line Railroad in 1996 and continued operation under the new name.

Reporting mark alphabetic code ID used on the North American railroad network

A reporting mark is an alphabetic code of one to four letters used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain railroad networks.

Grimes, Alabama Town in Alabama, United States

Grimes is a town in Dale County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 558, up from 459 in 2000. It is part of the Enterprise–Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Abbeville, Alabama City in Alabama, United States

Abbeville is a city in Henry County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the population was 2,688. The city is the county seat of Henry County. It is the first city alphabetically, both by city and state, in the Rand McNally Road Atlas. It has two high schools: the public Abbeville High School and private Abbeville Christian Academy. Chapters of the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity operate here.

History

Construction of the Alabama Midland Railway began in 1887 and completed its line through the region in 1890. The Abbeville Southern Railway was created in September 1892 to build a branch line from Grimes, reaching Abbeville in December of the following year. Following the completion of construction, the line was transferred to the Alabama Midland, which operated the line until it was merged with the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway on September 2, 1901. [1]

The Alabama Midland Railway was incorporated in Alabama and Georgia in 1887, and built a line from Bainbridge, Georgia, to a point near Montgomery, Alabama. The route was completed in 1890. It became part of the Plant System in 1894, and in 1901 it was merged into the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway.

The Abbeville Southern Railway was incorporated in Alabama in September 1892 for the purpose of building a branch line from a connection with the Alabama Midland Railway at Grimes, Alabama towards Abbeville, Alabama. The route was completed in December 1893, totaling 26.9 miles (43.3 km), and was operated by the Alabama Midland Railway.

The Atlantic Coast Line absorbed the SF&W in 1902. A pair of mergers, first into the Seaboard Coast Line in 1967, and later the Seaboard System in 1983, would precede the final merger into CSX Transportation in 1986. [2] In the late 1980s CSX sought to abandon the line from Grimes to Abbeville. [3] However, the Stone Container Corporation, operator of a woodchip mill near Abbeville and the parent company of the Bay Line Railroad, sought to purchase the branch and preserve service, which it did on March 1, 1989. [4] The new line reached its parent railroad at Dothan via trackage rights over CSX between Grimes and Dothan. [3]

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad defunct American Class I railroad

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad is a former U. S. Class I railroad from 1900 until 1967, when it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Much of the original ACL network has been part of CSX Transportation since 1986.

The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad is a former Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.

Seaboard System Railroad defunct American Class I railway

The Seaboard System Railroad, Inc. was a short-lived former US Class I railroad that was created on December 29, 1982 after the consolidation of the Seaboard Coast Line and its sister railroads into a single entity. It was one of two operating companies of CSX Corporation, the other being Chessie System.

Under the Seaboard Coast Line, the local freight over the branch line was scheduled to originate and terminate at Grimes. The local was numbered 641 while traveling towards Abbeville, and 640 for the return trip to Grimes. This local worked after the daily Montgomery bound morning local passed through the area with fresh carloads for the Abbeville branch, and returned well before the return trip local out of Montgomery to Dothan arrived again to retrieve cars from train 640's earlier trip. On October 28, 1979, the scheduled 641 and 640 trains were removed from the Waycross Division timetable and instead the branch was operated independent of an established schedule. Under the final years of the Seaboard Coast Line the branch was operated as a local road switcher with permanently stationed locomotives on the line or with an as-needed local launched from Dothan. The Seaboard System and CSX Transportation operated the branch on an as needed basis with a switch engine stationed at Abbeville to work the Stone Container Corp woodchip mill there.

Rail Services Inc. was responsible for operations of the Abbeville–Grimes Railway using locomotives and rolling stock supplied by the Bay Line Railroad. On January 1, 1994, the Bay Line was sold to Rail Management Corporation with the Abbeville–Grimes Railway included in the purchase. The name was shortened to the A&G railroad and continued to operate with Bay Line locomotives. [5] The A&G was formally merged into the Bay Line on June 26, 1996, and ceased to exist as a separate entity. [6]

Rail Management Corporation

Durden Enterprises II Inc - Formally Rail Management Corporation (RMC), based in Panama City Beach, Florida, was a holding company of short line railroads in the southeastern United States.

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References

  1. ↑ Owen, Thomas M. (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. 1. S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. p. 71.
  2. ↑ Solomon, Brian (2005). CSX. MBI Publishing Company. pp. 63–67. ISBN   0-7603-1796-8.
  3. 1 2 Nelson, Bruce (2005). "The Bay Line Railroad". The Railroad Press (65): 44–49.
  4. ↑ Lewis, Edward A. (1991). American Shortline Railway Guide (4 ed.). Kalmbach Publishing Company. p. 8. ISBN   0-89024-109-0.
  5. ↑ Lewis, Edward A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5 ed.). Kalmbach Publishing Company. p. 12. ISBN   0-89024-290-9.
  6. ↑ "STB Finance Docket No. 19936". 21 June 1996. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
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