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Atlanta Birmingham & Coast by Larry Goolsby ACL SCL Historical Soc Hard Cover
Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast by Larry Goolsby The 120-year story of this ACL/SCL predecessor. Rosters, equipment, stations, index, more.
Hard Cover inscription and signed by Goolsby
248 pages
Copyright 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Forewordviii
chapter One - Beginnings2
chapter Two -
pretensions To Prosperity - The Ab&a20
chapter Three -
war, Strike, And Takeover50
chapter Four -
the Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast70
chapter Five -
at Work On The Ab&c98
chapter Six -
the Coast Line Transformation 112
chapter Seven -
"the New Atlantic Coast Line"136
chapter Eight -
from Seaboard Coast Line To Seaboard System152
chapter Nine -
csx And Beyond172
chapter Ten -
A Colorful History 186
appendix A - Locomotives 200
appendix B - Rolling Stock214
Appendix C - Stations226
chapter End Notes240
bibliography243
index245
ON THE BACK COVER:
Atlanta, Birmingham 6' Coast is the complete story of an amazing southeastern railroad. From humble logging road origins in south Georgia, to hard-luck predecessor Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic, to rebirth under the Atlantic Coast Line, and finally as one of CSX's most important routes - the AB&C has had many names but has always written one fascinating chapter after another in its remarkable history.
In nine chapters, three appendices, and a color section, Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast covers the railroad from the 1880s to the present, including its finances, trains, locomotives, cars, and buildings.
AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, my favorite pastime was watching trains on the ACT's Western Division. My several childhood homes in Woodland, Ga., were all close to the tracks. Shopping trips took us to Manchester, junction of the line's Atlanta and Birmingham mains. And then there were the frequent two-hour train trips my mother Marilu and I would take to Rebecca to see "Granny" - whose house was only yards from the depot.
One day when I was about 10, I noticed a map of Woodland hanging in the town hall office where my father Nelson worked his second job as town clerk. But instead of my beloved Atlantic Coast Line, the map's railroad line was labeled "Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast." Daddy explained that this was no error - the railroad was indeed once called the AB&C. My curiosity was piqued, and the "Bee Line" has fascinated me ever since.
I soon learned that the Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast was one the Southeast's most interesting railroads. From humble logging road origins in south Georgia, the AB&C's predecessor, the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic, built an expensive, heavy-duty route to the great commercial centers of Atlanta and Birmingham. Coming at the end of the country's railroad building boom, the AB&A was one of the last independent lines constructed in the U. S. The railroad promised riches to its investors and the finest service to its customers -only to go bankrupt not once, but twice.
Before the Atlantic Coast Line bought the road in 1926, the AB&A barely struggled through a bitter strike, poor track, and fatal wrecks. Renamed the Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast, the plucky railroad survived the Depression and turned in yeoman service during World War II. But the AB&C was a steady drain on Coast Line's treasury and, worn out from wartime traffic, forced ACL to the reluctant choice of getting rid of the line or investing the millions necessary to remake it into a modern, efficient property.
That ACL chose the latter course in 1946 - deciding in the bargain to merge the railroad as its Western Division - is obvious to anyone who stands trackside on today's AB&C. The Coast Line began a process that has transformed the former AB&C into an increasingly vital link for successors Seaboard Coast Line and CSX. The line is now one of the busiest on CSX and funnels the great majority of the railroad's midwestern traffic into Florida.
The Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast's history is a vivid reminder that the predecessors of today's mega-railroads had their own distinctive beginnings. Some, like the AB&C, came close to being absorbed by rival companies - or not being here at all. How this 639-mile company started life as one of the best-built railroads in the country, slipped nearly into oblivion, and then came back as the first-class property its founders always dreamed of, is the story I hope this book will help record.
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