Central of Georgia Railway
The Central of Georgia Railway (reporting mark CG) 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.
1903 map of the Central of Georgia Railway | |
The City of Miami in 1964, painted in Illinois Central colors, not CofG's own livery | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Savannah, Georgia |
| Reporting mark | CG |
| Locale | Georgia, Alabama |
| Dates of operation | 1895–1963 |
| Successor | split between Southern Railway later Norfolk Southern and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway then Burlington Northern now BNSF |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Previous gauge | 5 ft (1,524 mm), civil war era and4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) |
| Length | 1,944 miles (3,129 km) in 1929 |
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." The company was purchased by the Southern Railway in 1963, and subsequently became part of Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982.
Despite the similarity between the two names, the Georgia Central Railway has no ties with the Central of Georgia Railway.