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Georgia Railroad

Georgia Railroad

The Georgia Railroad was originally chartered in 1833 starting in Augusta, Georgia it was completed into Atlanta by Chief Engineer J. Edgar Thomson in 1845 and Richard Peters was its first superintendent. At that time the rates were as follows:
- 5¢ per mile for passengers
- 50¢ per 100 miles for freight In 1867, here were the stops available to riders:

Distances of Depots from Atlanta

Trains departed from Atlanta at 8:55AM and 7:15PM and arrived there at 10:05AM and 6:00PM

Today

The Georgia Railroad fell under common management with the Atlanta and West Point Railroad and the Western Railway of Alabama. These were later merged with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Clinchfield Railroad to form the Family Lines System. This later was renamed Seaboard System Railroad, and in 1986 merged with Chessie System to form CSX Transportation. Category:Georgia railroads Category:Atlanta railroads Category:Seaboard System Railroad Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a city located in the state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population is 199,775. In 1996 the governments of the City of Augusta and Richmond County combined to form a single governing body known as Augusta-Richmond County. Richmond County Augusta is located on the Georgia-South Carolina border, about 150 miles east of Atlanta. It is the second largest city and second largest metropolitan area in the state. It is the birthplace of the Southern Baptist denomination, and the location of one of the first autonomous black Baptist churches in the nation. The region’s three largest employers include the Savannah River Site (a Department of Energy nuclear facility), the U.S. Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon, and the Medical College of Georgia. The city’s famous golf course (the Augusta National Golf Club) hosts the first major golf tournament of each year, The Masters, and has attracted national media attention for its refusal to extend membership to women. The city was originally named in honor of Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, and was the second state capital of Georgia (alternating for a period with Savannah, the first). Augusta has several nicknames. Its official nickname is The Garden City. It is also known as Masters City, since it plays host to golf's first major tournament, The Masters. "Disgusta" is an unofficial and unflattering nickname, probably arising from the city's reputation for corrupt politics, foul odor from nearby paper mills and chemical plants, and lack of cultural attractions.

Geography

The Masters According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 851 km² (328 mi²). 839 km² (324 mi²) of it is land and 11 km² (4 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.34% water. Augusta is located about halfway up the Savannah River on the fall line, providing a number of small falls on the Savannah River. The Clarks Hill Dam is also built on the fall line near Augusta, forming Lake Strom Thurmond, formerly known as Clarks Hill Lake. Further downstream, near the border of Columbia County, is the Stevens Creek Dam, which separates the Savannah River from the Augusta Canal.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 199,775 people, 73,920 households, and 49,526 families residing in the county. The population density is 238/km² (616/mi²). There are 82,312 housing units at an average density of 98/km² (254/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 45.55% White, 49.75% African American, 0.28% Native American, 1.50% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 1.01% from other races, and 1.78% from two or more races. 2.78% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 73,920 households out of which 33.60% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.80% are married couples living together, 20.80% have a female householder with no husband present, and 33.00% are non-families. 27.70% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.50% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.55 and the average family size is 3.13. In the county the population is spread out with 26.80% under the age of 18, 12.00% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 20.50% from 45 to 64, and 10.80% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 93.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.80 males. The median income for a household in the county is $33,086, and the median income for a family is $38,509. Males have a median income of $29,667 versus $22,760 for females. The per capita income for the county is $17,088. 19.60% of the population and 16.20% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 27.20% are under the age of 18 and 14.10% are 65 or older.

History

Latino The location of Augusta was first used by Native Americans as a place to cross the Savannah River, because of Augusta's location on the fall line. In 1735, two years after James Oglethorpe founded Savannah, he sent a detachment of troops on a journey up the Savannah River. He gave them an order to built at the head of the navigable part of the river. The job fell into the hands of Nobel Jones, who created the settlement to provide a first line of defense against the Spanish and the French. Oglethorpe then named the town Augusta, in honor of Princess Augusta, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales. The town was laid out on the flat slopes of the Savannah River, just east of the sand hills that would come to be known as "Summerville". The townspeople got along peacefully (most of the time) with the surrounding tribes of Creek and Cherokee Indians. In 1739, construction began on a road to connect Augusta to Savannah. This made it possible for people to reach Augusta by horse, rather than by boat. Because of this, more people began to migrate inland to Augusta. Later on, in 1750, Augusta's first church, St. Paul's, was built near Fort Augusta. It became the leader of the local parish. In 1777, under Georgia's new constitution, a new political structure would be laid out and Augusta's parish government would be replaced by a new county government, Richmond County, which was named after the Duke of Richmond. During the American Revolution, Savannah fell to the British. This left Augusta as the new state capital and a new prime target of the British. By January 31, 1779, Augusta was captured by Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell. But Campbell soon withdrew, as American troops were gathering on the opposite shore of the Savannah River. Augusta again became the state capital, but not for long. Augusta fell into British hands once more before the end of the war. From then until the American Civil War, with the establishment of the Augusta Canal, Augusta became a leader in the production of textiles, gunpowder, and paper. The Georgia Railroad was built by local contractors Fannin, Grant & Co in 1845 giving Augusta a rail link to Atlanta which connected to the Tennessee River (at Chattanooga, Tennessee) thus providing access to the Mississippi River. The cost-savings of this link from the middle of the country to the Atlantic Ocean via the Savannah River increased trade considerably and it had a population of 12,493 by 1860, being just one of 102 U.S. cities at the time to have a population of over 10,000, and making it the second largest city in Georgia. But then came war. Originally, Augustans welcomed the idea of war. The new Confederate Powderworks were the only permanent structures constructed and completed by the Confederacy. Over 2000 Augustans went away to fight in the war, not knowing the terrors that awaited them. War did not set into the minds of Augustans until the summer of 1863. It was in that year that thousands of refugees from areas threatened by invasion came crowding into Augusta, leading to shortages in housing and provisions. Next came the threatening nearness of General Sherman's advancing army, causing panic in the streets of this once quiet town. In 1828, the Georgia General Assembly granted a formal charter for the Medical Academy of Georgia and a school began training physicians in two borrowed rooms of the City Hospital. By 1873, an affiliation was made with the University of Georgia and the school became the Medical Department of the University. The School became the Medical College of Georgia in 1956 and forms the anchor of a heavily developed medical sector in the city. Unlike most Southern cities, Postbellum life for Augusta was very prosperous. By the beginning of the 20th century, Augusta had become one of the largest inland cotton markets in the world. In 1913, the Medical College of Georgia was founded, and in 1914, University Hospital was founded nearby. These two buildings would form the nucleus of a future medical complex. A new military cantonment, named Camp Hancock, opened nearby during World War I. Prior to World War II, the U.S. Army constructed a new fort near Richmond County that was named Camp Gordon. It was finished just a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many new soldiers were brought to this camp to train to go off to war. While they were there, though, the townspeople treated them very nicely, causing many of them to come back to Augusta at the end of the war. But within the few months after WWII, trouble began to set in. Many of the GIs at Camp Gordon had been sent back home, and the importance of the army in the community seemed to almost come to an end. But then Augusta would go through its golden age. In 1948, new life came to the city when the U.S. Army moved the Signal Training Center and Military Police School to Camp Gordon. Later on, in November of 1948, the Clarks Hill Reservoir was created by a newly constructed dam, which provided the city with a good supply of hydroelectric power. Then, in 1950, plans were announced to build the Savannah River Plant nearby, which would boost the city's population about 50,000. Augusta moved into the second half of the twentieth century on the threshold of becoming an urban industrial center in the South.

Government

industrial center Recently, in 1996, the City of Augusta and Richmond County consolidated to form one government - Augusta, GA. The consolidated government consists of a mayor and 10 Augusta-Richmond County commissioners. Eight commissioners represent specific districts, while the other two represent super districts comprised of the other eight. Augusta has a reputation for corrupt local politics. An Augusta State Senator, Charles Walker, was convicted on numerous Federal Felony charges in 2005 and was removed from his position. Around the same time, a former Augusta State Senator, Robin Williams was also convicted on Federal Fraud charges. The city has a history of political machines such as The Crackers, The Southside Mafia, The Walker Machine, and The Morris Machine (named after the influential publisher of the city's only daily newspaper The Augusta Chronicle). A former mayor, Edward McIntyre was convicted of bribery and extortion charges in the mid 1980s regarding the sale of city owned riverfront realestate. Augusta local politics is marked by strong racial division and animosity, with many city council votes falling along racial lines. As of 2004, the Augusta-Richmond County government employs around 2,600 people. Some current holders of office are as follows:
- Mayor: Deke Copenhaver
- Commissioners
  - District 1: Betty Beard
  - District 2: Marion F. Williams
  - District 3: John Bowles
  - District 4: Richard Colclough
  - District 5: Calvin Holland
  - District 6: Andy Cheek
  - District 7: Jerry Brigham
  - District 8: Jimmy Smith
  - District 9: J.R. Hatney
  - District 10: Don A. Grantham
- Sheriff: Ronald Strength
- Coroner: Grover Tuten

Metropolitan Area

According to the 2000 Census, the Augusta-Aiken Metropolitan Area had a population of 477,441, making it the 87th largest in the nation and second largest in the State of Georgia. It consists of 5 counties in 2 states.
- Georgia
  - Richmond County
  - Columbia County
    - Evans
    - Martinez
  - McDuffie County
- South Carolina
  - Aiken County
    - Aiken
    - North Augusta
  - Edgefield County

Sports


- Baseball: Augusta GreenJackets [http://www.greenjackets.net]
- Hockey: Augusta Lynx [http://www.augustalynx.com]
- Arena Football: Augusta Stallions [http://www.augustastallions.com]

Major Attractions


- Augusta Canal
- Augusta Museum of History [http://www.augustamuseum.org]
- Augusta National Golf Club
- Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center [http://augustaciviccenter.com]
- Confederate Powderworks
- Clarks Hill Lake
- Downtown Augusta [http://www.downtownaugusta.com]
- Enterprise Mill
- Fort Discovery [http://www.nscdiscovery.org/FortDiscovery/index.htm]
- Fort Gordon [http://www.gordon.army.mil]
- Georgia Golf Hall of Fame [http://www.gghf.org]
- Lake Olmstead Stadium
- Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History [http://www.lucycraftlaneymuseum.com]
- Morris Museum of Art [http://www.themorris.org]
- Riverwalk Augusta [http://www.augustaga.gov/departments/riverwalk/home.asp]
- William B. Bell Auditorium [http://augustaciviccenter.com/auditorium.html]
- Woodrow Wilson's Boyhood Home [http://www.wilsonboyhoodhome.org]

Miscellaneous


- Augusta is host of The Masters [http://www.masters.org] golf tournament every year, which is part of the Grand Slam in golf.
- Augusta is served by Augusta Regional Airport [http://www.augustaregionalairport.com] and the smaller Daniel Field.
- Augusta's largest newspaper is the Augusta Chronicle [http://www.augustachronicle.com].
- Augusta is home to the Medical College of Georgia [http://www.mcg.edu], Augusta State University [http://www.aug.edu] and Paine College [http://www.paine.edu].
- Augusta's Broad Street is the second widest street in America.
- E-Z-GO and Club Car, the two largest golf cart distributors in the world are centered in Augusta.
- Augusta is home to the Augusta Symphony Orchestra [http://www.augustasymphony.org].
- Norfolk Southern and CSX runs down the middle of the street in town (CSX has to serve an industry, so they have trackage rights on NS.)
- The Butt Memorial Bridge was placed in memory of Archibald Butt and is the only memorial to the RMS Titanic in Georgia.

Famous Augustans


- Joseph E.G. Barrett, actor
- James Brown, musician
- Scott Fernstrom, actor
- Laurence Fishburne, actor
- Amy Grant, singer/songwriter (born in Augusta, but grew up in Houston)
- Todd Greene, baseball player
- Hulk Hogan, professional wrestler
- Charles Anthony Hughes, actor
- Beau Jack, world champion boxer
- Jasper Johns, artist
- Matt Mangum, actor
- Murat McKeown, scholar
- Butterfly McQueen, actress (Prissy in Gone with the Wind)
- Wes Motley, actor
- Jessye Norman, opera singer
- Sir Mildred Pierce, musician
- Faith Prince
- Woodrow Wilson (spent his childhood in Augusta) - Former U.S. President

Television


- WJBF Channel 6, ABC affiliate..
- WRDW Channel 12, CBS affiliate.
- WBEK Channel 16, low powered television station carried the UPN network circa 2003.
- WCES Channel 20, PBS member station.
- WAGT Channel 26, NBC affiliate.
- WFXG Channel 54, FOX affiliate.

Bands


- The Skuds

Related topics


- Augusta National
- CSRA

External links


- [http://www.augustaga.gov City of Augusta Homepage]
- [http://www.augusta.com Augusta.com]
- [http://www.augustaga.org Augusta Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau]
- [http://www.augustachronicle.com The Augusta Chronicle, founded 1785]
- [http://www.augustafocus.com The Augusta Focus, minority newspaper owned by former state Sen. Charles Walker]
- [http://www.aug.edu Augusta State University] Category:Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Richmond County, Georgia

J. Edgar Thomson

John Edgar Thomson (February 10 1808 – May 27 1874) was an American civil engineer, railroad executive and industrialist. He was President of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1852 to 1874. He oversaw the railroad's conversion from wood to coal as a fuel for its steam locomotives.

Childhood, early experience

Born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he began his railroad career at age 19 as a rodman working in a survey crew locating the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Thomson later worked for Camden and Amboy Railroad. He also worked canals, watching his father, John Thomson, supervise the building of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Developing Georgia's railroads

At the age of 26 in 1834, he became the chief engineer of the newly chartered Georgia Railroad. He located the road, negotiated and oversaw construction contracts, operated portions as they opened, and promoted possible connections to the north and west. By 1845, he had completed the railroad from Augusta to Marthasville. At 173 miles (278.4 km), it was the longest railroad in the world at the time. Thomson later bought control of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad and helped finance and locate the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. Also in 1845, he surveyed and designed the Augusta Canal for lawyer Henry Cumming which was completed two years later.

Pennsylvania Railroad

After the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) was formed in 1846, it entered into an operating arrangement with the state-owned Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, the road Thomson had first worked on. Thomson was named chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and went to work locating the railway from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. In 1852, he became the Pennsylvania Railroad's president, a post he continued until his death in 1874. Thomson's major projects included completing the road across the Allegheny Mountains, double tracking its main line, the railroad's conversion from wood to coal as a fuel for its steam locomotives, and reorganizing the company's management structure. After the American Civil War, Thomson led the PRR on an unprecedented expansion program, controlling over 6,000 miles (9,656 km) of railroad by 1873. Thomson also invested in transcontinental railroad lines, coal companies, iron and steel works, lumber operations, and land companies. The city of Thomson in McDuffie County, Georgia was named for him. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie named his new steel mill at Braddock, Pennsylvania after him.

References


- Coleman, Kenneth and Charles Stephen Gurr, editors, (1977) Dictionary of Georgia Biography (Athens: University of Georgia Press)

External links


- [http://www.railga.com/georgia.html Georgia Railroad History]
- [http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/abpa01.Html Railroad Extra website] Thomson, John Edgar Thomson, John Edgar Thomson, John Edgar

Richard Peters (Atlanta)

Richard Peters (November 10,1810 – February 6,1889) was an American railroad man and a founder of Atlanta. Grandson of Judge Richard Peters, Jr. (an associate of George Washington) he was born near Philadelphia at Germantown, Pennsylvania to father Ralph Peters.

Early Career

His early Pennsylvania career found him working with architect William Strickland and as a rodman with John Edgar Thomson for $1.50 a day. Thomson liked the 26-year old's work and offered him a job for $1000 a year to help with construction of the new Georgia Railroad for which he was chief engineer. One hundred dollars got him a rough paddlewheeler ride into camp near Charleston, South Carolina in the brutally cold February of 1835. He worked the state road the eight years it took to complete it from Augusta to the new town of Marthasville, Georgia, building a life-long friendship with Lemuel P. Grant both of whom began buying land in the new town. When the road was completed, he was made superintendent and while in that position heard many complaints about the length of the name Marthasville which took too long to write in log books, freight, etc. He traded letters with Thomson and when the latter suggested Atlanta, Peters began printing up thousands of circulars distributing them from Augusta to Tennessee advertising the new name which was officially changed in December 1845. He built a home there and was married in 1848 and founded an early Atlanta factory, the flour mill at the location of today's Sloppy Floyd office building. With no water, the mill needed to be powered by wood and Peters purchased 405 acres (the land lots 80 and 47) which is basically all of midtown between North Ave and 8th St for pine wood. This land turned out to be the key to his future wealth. Always interested in transportation, he had run stage coach line from Atlanta to Montgomery, Alabama, but after the completion of the Atlanta & West Point Railroad he moved the northern end to West point and continued from there to Montgomery.

The War

During the American Civil War Peters remained in Atlanta until a few days before the arrival of Sherman's army where he was the civilian transportation agent for all Atlanta railroads and he contracted with the blockade running Crenshaw Company supplying cotton by rail in exchange for foodstuffs. In early 1861, he sold the steam engine from his mill for $12,000 to be used in the Confederate Powderworks at Augusta. By the time of the Battle of Atlanta he and his family were in Augusta where they stayed until April of 1865. After Sherman left Georgia in December of 1864, he had James R. Crew repairing the 24 miles of destroyed Atlanta and West Point Rail Road and Lemuel P. Grant the nearly 100 miles of wrecked Georgia Railroad. By April, the war was over and rail service was restored to Atlanta.

After the War

Georgia Railroad After the Kimball House was destroyed by fire, Peters helped lead the efforts to have that center of Atlanta life rebuilt eventually having to ask Hanniball Kimball back to town to help raise money. He began to subdivide his north Atlanta land, first by laying out roads: north/south by trees (myrtle, juniper, apple, etc) to match the naming of Peachtree Street but threw in Penn to harken back to his Pennsylvania roots; east/west streets were numbered starting with 3rd St. (since North Ave and Ponce de León were long-since named) and ending with the northernmost extent of his property, 8th St. In 1884 he sold 180 acres of that land to Kimball for $1,000 an acre to create Peters Park, a development which eventually failed for lack of sales. In 1887 he sold five acres of his remaining holdings to the state for $10,000 and donated another four to help found the Georgia School of Technology. With George Adair he built Atlanta's first street railway. He left a million dollar estate. Of his two sons, Edward stayed on the estate and built a mansion which still stands while Ralph became president of the Long Island Rail Road. He's buried in Oakland Cemetery, in Atlanta.

External links


- [http://eridanus.gsu.edu/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2916 Nellie Peters Black (1851-1919)]
- [http://www.freeapartmentlocators.com/facts.asp Interesting Facts About Atlanta]
- [http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/urbandesign_petershouse.aspx Edward C. Peters House] Peters, Richard Peters, Richard Peters, Richard Peters, Richard

Western Railway of Alabama

The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA), also known as the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, ran from a junction near Selma, Alabama through Montgomery, Alabama to West Point, Georgia. It served Auburn, Alabama and connected in Opelika, Alabama to the Central of Georgia line from Columbus, Georgia to Birmingham, Alabama. Although it was partially owned by the Central of Georgia around the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, it did not end up being owned by Norfolk Southern when that company acquired the CofG's parent, the Southern Railway. In the 1980s, the line and its sister railroads, the Atlanta and West Point Railroad and the Georgia Railroad, became part of the Family Lines System, along with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Clinchfield Railroad. The lines were all later renamed Seaboard System Railroad, which in 1986 merged with the Chessie System to become CSX Transportation. The WRA is still in full use for freight. Passenger service on this line ceased in the late 1960s. Category:Alabama railroads Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad

The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was created July 1 1967 as a result of the merger of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). In 1982, The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad became Seaboard System Railroad as a result of a merger with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N). For some years prior to this, the SCL and L&N had been under the common ownership of a holding company, Seaboard Coast Line Industries (SCI), the company's railroad subsidiaries being collectively known as the Family Lines System which comprised of the L&N, SCL, Clinchfield and West Point Routes. After the 1980 merger of SCI with the Chessie System, the resulting CSX Corporation combined the Family Lines System units as the Seaboard System Railroad and later became CSX when the former Chessie units were merged into it in 1986.

Innovative SCL trains

Juice Train: a historic model of unit train competition

Juice Train is the popular name for famous unit trains of Tropicana fresh orange juice operated by railroads in the United States. In 1970, beginning on Seaboard Coast Line railroad, a mile-long Tropicana Juice Train train began carrying one million gallons of juice with one weekly round-trip from Bradenton, Florida to Kearny, New Jersey, in the New York City area. Today operated by SCL successor CSX Transportation, CSX Juice Trains have been the focus of efficiency studies and awards as examples of how modern rail transportation can compete successfully against trucking and other modes to carry perishable products.

Auto-Train

The original Auto-Train operated on Seaboard Coast Line and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P) tracks. It was operated by Auto-Train Corporation, a privately-owned railroad which used its own rolling stock to provide a unique rail transportation service for both passengers and their automobiles in the United States, operating scheduled service between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. The founder of Auto-Train Corporation was Eugene K. Garfield. His approach allowed families to relax en route and save the expense and unfamiliarity of a rental car on arrival. Passengers rode in either wide coach seats or private first-class sleeping compartments while their vehicles were safely carried in enclosed autoracks. The train included dining cars and meals were served. The equipment of the Auto-Train Corporation was painted in red, white, and purple colors. The typical train was equipped with two or three General Electric U36B diesel-electric locomotives, 76' double-deck auto carriers, streamlined passenger cars, including coaches, dining cars, sleeper cars, and 85' full-dome cars, and a caboose, then an unusual sight on most passenger trains. Auto-Train Corporation's first auto carriers were acquired used, and started life in the 1950s as a new innovation for Canadian National Railroad. The CN bi-level autorack cars had end-doors. They were huge by the standards of the time; each 75-footer could carry 8 vehicles. The cars were a big success and helped lead to the development of today's enclosed autoracks. The former CN autoracks were augmented by new tri-level versions in 1976. autorack Auto-Train Corporation's new service began operations on December 6, 1971 The service was a big hit with travelers. Before long, the ambitious entrepreneurs of Auto-Train were looking to expand into other markets. However, only the Lorton-Sanford service proved successful. High crew costs, several spectacular accidents with the 58- to 64-car trains, and an unprofitable expansion to Louisville, Kentucky put Garfield's company into bankruptcy. Auto-Train Corporation was forced to end its services in late April, 1981. Operating for almost 10 years, Auto-Train had developed a popular following, particularly among older travelers as it ferried passengers and their cars between Virginia and Florida. However, no one else offered a service quite like that of Auto-Train: transport a car and its passengers together (on the same movement, at the same time) to and from vacation areas. In 1983, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, better known as Amtrak, a federally-chartered corporation which operates most intercity passenger trains in the United States acquired Auto-Train Corporation terminals in Lorton and Sanford and some of the rolling stock, including the autoracks. Amtrak began its slightly-renamed Auto Train route service between Virginia and Florida on a 3 day per week basis after a 22 month gap, expanding it to daily trips the following year. Today, Amtrak's Auto Train carries about 200,000 passengers and generates around $50 million in revenue annually. Operating on leased CSX Transportation tracks for the entire distance, it is considered Amtrak's best-paying train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses.

History

The Western and Atlantic Railroad is famous for the Great Locomotive Chase, which took place on the W&A during the US Civil War in April 1862.

See also


- Rail terminology
- Juice Train
- Auto Train
- Amtrak
- List of Seaboard Coast Line Railroad milepost prefixes

External links


- [http://aclsal.org/ Atlantic Coast Line & Seaboard Air Line Railroads Historical Society]

Louisville and Nashville Railroad

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business. Operating under one name continuously for 132 years, it survived civil war and economic depression and several waves of social and technological change. It was the premier Southern railroad, but also extended its reach far outside its home area, ultimately building a network of nearly 7,000 miles of track.

Early history and Civil War

Its first line extended only barely south of Louisville, Kentucky, and in fact it took until 1859 to span the 180-odd miles to its second namesake city of Nashville. There were about 250 miles of track in the system by the outbreak of the Civil War, and its strategic location, spanning the Union/Confederate lines, made it of great interest to both governments. In the event, different parts of the network were pressed into service by both armies at various times, and considerable damage from wear, battle, and sabotage occurred. However, the company benefited from being based in the Union state of Kentucky, and the fact that Nashville fell to Union forces within the first year of the war and remained in their hands for its duration; it profited from Northern haulage contracts for troops and supplies, paid in sound Federal "greenbacks," as opposed to the rapidly-depreciating Confederate dollars. After the war, it found that its Southern competitors were devastated to the point of collapse, and the general economic depression meant that labor and materials to repair its roads could be had fairly cheaply. Buoyed by these fortunate circumstances, the firm began an expansion that never really stopped. Within thirty years the network reached from Ohio and Missouri to Louisiana and Florida. By 1884, the firm had such importance that it was included in the Dow Jones Transportation Average, the first American stock market index. It was so active a customer of the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works, the country's second largest locomotive maker, that in 1879 the firm presented L&N with a free locomotive as a thank-you bonus.

Coal and capital in the Gilded Age

Railroads were much interested in coal, of course, as all locomotives were steam-powered, and wood-burning models had been found to be unsatisfactory. The L&N shrewdly guaranteed not only its own fuel sources but a steady revenue stream by pushing its lines into the difficult but coal-rich terrain of eastern Kentucky, and also well into northern Alabama. There the small town of Birmingham had recently been founded amidst undeveloped deposits of coal and also iron ore, the basic ingredients of steel production. The arrival of L&N transport and investment capital helped create a great industrial city, and the South's first postwar urban success story. The railroad's ready access to very high-grade coal eventually enabled it to boast the nation's longest non-stop run, nearly 500 miles from Louisville to Montgomery, Alabama without refueling. In the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, there were no such things as anti-trust or fair-competition laws and very little in the way of financial regulation. Business was a keen and mean affair, and the L&N proved a most formidable competitor. It could, and did, simply freeze out upstarts like the Tennessee Central Railway Company from critical infrastructure like urban stations. Where that wasn't possible, as with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad (which was older than the L&N), it simply used its financial muscle—in 1880 it acquired a controlling interest in its chief competitor. A public outcry resulted from this, however, sufficient to convince the L&N directors that there were some limits even to their power. They discreetly continued the NC&StL as a separate subsidiary, but now working in complement to, instead of in competition with, the L&N. Somewhat ironically, in 1902 financial speculations by financier J.P. Morgan delivered control of the L&N to the rival Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Curiously, however, this firm did not make any attempt to control L&N operations, and for many decades there were no consequences of this change.

The twentieth century

The World Wars brought heavy demand to the L&N. Its widespread and robust network coped well with the demands of war transport and production, and the resulting profits harked back to the boost it had received from the Civil War. In the postwar period, the line shifted gradually to diesel power, and the new streamlined engines pulled some of the most elegant passenger trains of the last great age of passenger rail, such as the Dixie Flyer, the Humming Bird, and the Pan-American. Though well past its hundredth anniversary, the line was still growing. In 1957, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis was finally fully merged. In the 1960s, acquisitions in Illinois allowed a long-sought entry into the premier rail center of Chicago, and some of the battered remains of the old rival, the Tennessee Central, were purchased as well. In 1971, Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the successor to Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, purchased the remainder of the L&N shares it did not already own, and the company became a subsidiary. During this period, in common with other lines, the L&N was cutting back passenger service. Amtrak, the government-formed passenger railway service, took over the few remaining L&N passenger trains in 1971. In 1979, amid great lamentations in the press, it ceased passenger service to its namesake cities, as well as Birmingham, when Amtrak discontinued The Floridian. By 1982, the rail industry was consolidating fast, and Seaboard System Railroad, successor to Seaboard Coast Line, absorbed the Louisville & Nashville entirely and withdrew its name from the market at the end of that year. Yet more consolidation was ahead, and in 1986, Seaboard System Railroad changed its name to CSX Transportation (CSX), which now owns and operates the former L&N assets. Few industries have as large and devoted a body of historians and fans as railroading does, and the long and colorful saga of the Louisville & Nashville has generated much interest. A number of historical groups and publications devoted to the line exist, and L&N equipment is well represented in the popular model railroading hobby.

See also


- Family Lines System
- List of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad precursors

External links


- [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lnrr L&N/NC&StL Email List]
- [http://rrhistorical-2.com/lnhs/history.html A short history of the line]
- [http://www.railga.com/ln.html L&N in Georgia]
- [http://www.oldalabamarails.org/history3.html L&N in Alabama]
- [http://rrhistorical-2.com/lnhs/ L&N Historical Society page]
- [http://members.tripod.com/appalachian_railroad/lnmodels.html L&N model photos]

Family Lines System

Beginning In 1972, American railroad companies Seaboard Coast Line and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad began jointly marketing themselves as the Family Lines System. This also extended to their subsidiary companies the Georgia Railroad, the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, the Clinchfield Railroad, and the Western Railway of Alabama. The use of this marketing device persisted until 1983, when a merger between Seaboard Coast Line and the Louisville and Nashville resulted in the Seaboard System Railroad, which in 1986 became CSX Transportation. Category:Defunct railroad companies of the United States

Seaboard System Railroad

The Seaboard System Railroad was created in 1982 as a result of CSX Corporation merging its subsidiaries Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) and Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N). The railroad only existed for four years, becoming part of CSX Transportation in 1986.

1986

1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

Gregorian calendar
- January 1 - Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
- January 1 - Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
- January 9 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
- January 12 - Space shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.
- January 20 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
- January 20 - The first federal Martin Luther King Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
- January 24 - Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus
- January 28 - Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing its crew of six astronauts and a schoolteacher.
- January 29 - Yoweri Kaguta Museveni became President of the Republic of Uganda after leading a successful five-year liberation struggle.

February


- February 7 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
- February 9 - Mohinder Amarnath becomes the first batsman dismissed for handling the ball in one-day international cricket.
- February 9 - Comet Halley reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Earth, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th century.
- February 11 - Human Rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky is released by the USSR and leaves the country.
- February 16 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand
- February 19 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station
- February 19 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide
- February 25 - EDSA Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile to USA after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as in interim president.
- February 25 - Egyptian military police, protesting bad salaries, enter four luxury hotels near the pyramids, set fire to them and loot them
- February 27 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis
- February 28 - Swedish prime minister Olof Palme is shot dead on his way home from the cinema.

March


- March 8 - Japanese spacecraft Suisei flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
- March 9 - United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.
- March 27 - A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer.
- March 31 - A fire devastates Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England.

April

England
- April 2 - A bomb explodes on a TWA flight from Rome to Athens - 4 dead
- April 5 - In the terroristic La Belle discotheque bombing the West-Berlin discotheque, a known hangout for U.S. soldiers, was bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230 people. Libya is held responsible.
- April 13 -- Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome — the first time a modern Pope had visited a synagogue.
- April 14 - 2.2 lb (1 kg) hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
- April 15 - At least 100 people died after USA planes bombed targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region as part of Operation El Dorado Canyon
- April 17 - British journalist John McCarthy kidnapped in Beirut (released in August 1991) - three others are found dead, Revolutionary Cells claims responsibility in retaliation for the US bombing of Libya.
- April 17 - Treaty signed, ending Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
- April 26 - In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the incident, many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus rendered uninhabitable.
- April 27 - "Captain Midnight" interrupts HBO satellite feed

May-July


- May 2 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens.
- May 7 - Steaua Bucharest wins the European Champions Cup in Sevilla
- May 25 - Hands Across America
- May 26 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
- June 4 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
- June 8 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
- June 9 - The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
- June 17 - The The Legend of Zelda is release for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
- June 29 - Argentina defeat West Germany 3-2 to win the Football World Cup 1986
- June 22 - Pirate radio Euro Weekend begins to broadcast
- July 5 - The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing
- July 23 - In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
- July 30 - Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanishes after a meeting in London

August-September


- August 6 - A low pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres of rain in a day on Sydney.
- August 18 - Australian Democrats leader Don Chipp retires from federal parliment and is succeded by Janine Haines, becoming the first woman to lead a political party in Australia
- August 19 - Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia. It had been stolen from the Victoria National Gallery two weeks earlier
- August 20 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
- August 21 - The Lake Nyos tragedy occurs, killing nearly 2000 people.
- August 31 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.
- August 31 - An Aeroméxico Douglas DC-9 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground.
- August 31 - Cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadephia, Pennsylvania, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It will wander the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo
- September 5 - Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
- September 6 - In Istanbul, two Arab terrorists from Abu Nidal's terror organization kill 22 and wound six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Sabbath services.
- September 7 - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa.

October


- October 1 - President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater-Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.
- October 9 - United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
- October 10 - An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
- October 11 - Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe (the talks break down in failure).
- October 26 - Bus deregulation in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
- October 27 - The New York Mets win the Major League Baseball World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox in seven games.
- October 28 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.
- October 28 - Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister and twin nephews and is given five life sentences.

November


- November 1 - Queensland, Australia: Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with 38.6% of the vote. He resigns on December 1 1987 following revelations of his involvement corruption released in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
- November 3 - Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
- November 9 - Romania: Ellection of Patriarch Teoctist Arǎpaşu/Theoctist
- November 11 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company
- November 12 - Australian singer John Farnham releases the album "Whispering Jack", which becomes the highest selling album in Australia's history.
- November 21 - Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 25 - Iran-Contra Affair: US Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 26 - Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces that as of Monday, December 1 former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will serve as members of the Special Review Board looking into the scandal (they became known as the Tower Commission). Reagan denies involvement in the scandal.

December


- December 14 - Voyager, an experimental aircraft designed by Burt Rutan and piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, begins its flight around the world.
- December 19 - Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is permitted to return to Moscow after years of internal exile
- December 23 - Voyager completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds
- December 31 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

Unknown dates


- Rajendra Sethia flees from England to India owing £170 million
- Atomic force microscope invented
- The National park passport stamps program begins.

Births


- January 24 - Mischa Barton, English-born American actress
- January 24 - Ricky Ullman, Israeli-born actor
- February 19 - Maria Mena, Norwegian singer
- February 21 - Charlotte Church, Welsh soprano
- February 25 - Justin Berfield, American actor
- March 9 - Brittany Snow, American actress
- March 14 - Jamie Bell, English actor
- April 3 - Amanda Bynes, American actress and variety show host
- June 3 - Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
- June 11 - Shia LaBeouf, American actor
- June 13 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses and entrepreneurs
- June 25 - Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
- July 2 - Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer
- September 12 - Emmy Rossum, American actress and singer
- September 16 - Hasib Hussain, English suicide bomber (d. 2005)
- October 9 - Laure Manaudou, French swimmer
- November 3 - Jasmine Trias, American singer
- November 5 - BoA, Korean singer
- November 15 - Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player

Deaths

January-March


- January 1 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
- January 8 - Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
- January 10 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- January 14 - Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
- January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
- January 24 - Gordon MacRae, American actor, singer (b. 1921)
- January 24 - Vincente Minnelli, American director (b. 1903)
- January 27 - Lilli Palmer, actress (b. 1914)
- January 28 - Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger:
  - Greg Jarvis (b. 1944)
  - Christa McAuliffe (b. 1948)
  - Ronald McNair (b. 1950)
  - Ellison Onizuka (b. 1946)
  - Judith Resnik (b. 1949)
  - Francis R. Scobee (b. 1939)
  - Michael J. Smith (b. 1945)
- February 1 - Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
- February 11 - Frank Herbert, American author (b. 1920)
- February 27 - Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
- February 28 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
- March 4 - Richard Manuel, American musician (The Band) (b. 1943)
- March 6 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
- March 10 - Ray Milland, Welsh actor (b. 1907)
- March 30 - James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)

April-June


- April 3 - Peter Pears, English tenor (b. 1910)
- April 7 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
- April 15 - Jean Genet, French writer (b. 1910)
- April 23 - Otto Preminger, Austrian-born film director (b. 1906)
- April 26 - Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
- April 26 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
- May 3 - Robert Alda, American-born actor (b. 1914)
- May 4 - Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally car driver (b. 1956)
- May 9 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
- May 12 - Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
- May 15 - Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
- May 15 - Theodore H. White, American writer (b. 1915)
- May 23 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- May 25 - Chester Bowles, American politician (b. 1901)
- May 31 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- June 13 - Benny Goodman, American jazz musician (b. 1909)
- June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
- June 16 - Maurice Duruflé, French composer (b. 1902)
- June 17 - Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907))

July-December


- July 4 - Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
- July 6 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (b. 1908)
- July 8 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (b. 1900)
- July 8 - Skeeter Webb, baseball player (b. 1909)
- July 14 - Raymond Loewy, French-born industrial designer (b. 1893)
- July 15 - Billy Haughton, American harness driver and trainer (b. 1923)
- July 24 - Fritz Albert Lipmann, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- August 2 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (b. 1927)
- August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright (b. 1923)
- August 31 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
- August 31 - Henry Moore, British sculptor (b. 1898)
- September 4 - Hank Greenberg, baseball player (b. 1911)
- September 25 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
- September 27 - Cliff Burton, American bassist (Metallica) (b. 1962)
- October 5 - James H. Wilkinson, English mathematician (b. 1919)
- October 16 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
- October 22 - Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
- October 23 - Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
- October 25 - Forrest Tucker, American actor (b. 1919)
- October 26 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
- October 28 - Ian Marter, British actor and writer (b. 1944)
- October 31 - Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1896)
- November 6 - Elisabeth Grümmer, Alsatian soprano (b. 1911)
- November 8 - Artur London, Czech statesman (b. 1915)
- November 8 - Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (b. 1890)
- November 21 - Dar Robinson, American film stuntman (b. 1947)
- November 22 - Scatman Crothers, American actor, musician (b. 1910)
- November 29 - Cary Grant, British actor (b. 1904)
- December 8 - Ben Dover, American actor (b. 1940)
- December 28 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (b. 1932)
- December 29 - Harold Macmillan, British statesman (b. 1894)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer
- Chemistry - Dudley R Herschbach, Yuan T Lee, John C Polanyi
- Physiology or Medicine - Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini
- Literature - Wole Soyinka
- Peace - Elie Wiesel
- Economics - James Buchanan Jr

Fields Medalists


- Simon Donaldson, Gerd Faltings, Michael Freedman

Templeton Prize


- Rev. Dr. James McCord

Right Livelihood Award


- Robert Jungk, Rosalie Bertell / Alice Stewart, Ladakh Ecological Development Group and Evaristo Nugkuag / AIDESEP

Fiction

Events in the Video Games Shenmue and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City take place. Category:1986 als:1986 ko:1986년 ms:1986 ja:1986年 simple:1986 th:พ.ศ. 2529

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the CSX Corporation. It is one of the two Class I's serving most of the east coast, the other being the Norfolk Southern Railway.

History

:Main article: List of CSX Transportation predecessor railroads CSX Transportation was formed on July 1, 1986 as a renaming of the Seaboard System Railroad, which had absorbed the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad, as well as several smaller subsidiaries. On August 31, 1987 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which had absorbed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad April 30 of that year, merged into CSX. The merger had been started in 1980 with the merger of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries to form the CSX Corporation. On June 23, 1997, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern filed a joint application with the Surface Transportation Board for authority to purchase, divide and operate the assets of the 11,000-mile Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), which had been created in 1976 by bringing together several ailing Northeastern railway systems into a government-owned corporation. On June 6, 1998, the STB approved the CSX-Norfolk Southern application and set August 22, 1998, as the effective date of its decision. CSX acquired 42% of Conrail's assets (Norfolk Southern got the remaining 58%). As a result of the transaction, CSX's rail operations, through its new subsidiary New York Central Lines, grew to include some 3,800 miles of the Conrail system (predominantly the former New York Central Railroad). CSX began operating its trains on its portion of the Conrail network on June 1, 1999. 1999 and adjacent Florida East Coast Railway bridge in the foreground.]] CSX now serves many of the eastern U.S. states (with a few routes into nearby Canadian cities). The name came about during merger talks between Chessie System, Inc. and Seaboard System Railroad, Inc., commonly called Chessie and Seaboard. The company chairmen said it was important for the new name to include neither of those names due to it being a partnership. Employees were asked for suggestions, most of which consisted of combinations of the initials. At the same time a temporary shorthand name was needed for discussions with the Interstate Commerce Commission. CSC was chosen but belonged to a trucking company in Virginia. CSM (for Chessie-Seaboard Merger) was also taken. The lawyers decided to use CSX, and the name stuck. In the public announcement, it was said that "CSX is singularly appropriate. C can stand for Chessie, S for Seaboard, and X, the multiplication symbol, means that together we are so much more."

CSX executive officers

See CSX Corporation.

Juice Train: a model for unit train competition

CSX operates the Juice Train, a famous unit train of Tropicana fresh orange juice between Bradenton, Florida, and distribution centers in Jersey City, New Jersey and Cincinnati, Ohio. in the United States. In the 21st century, CSX Juice Trains have been the focus of efficiency studies and have received awards. They are considered good examples of how modern rail transportation can compete successfully with trucking and other modes to carry perishable products.

Locomotives

CSX has a few famous locomotives around the system, the locomotive number will be in Bold text (the current paint scheme is blue and gold):
- 666 is commonly known as the devil
- 699, 5000, and 5001 are GE AC4400CW decorated with a "Diversity in Motion" logo on the side
- 8888 is a EMD SD40-2, she is famous for being a Runaway Train in Ohio
- 6000 is a GP40-2 that was the last locomotive in Chessie paint
- 6001 is a GP40-2 that had the first roadnumber B&O 1977
- 6062 is another GP40-2 that was the second locomotive that had B&O 1977
- 6063 is a EMD GP40-2, she is the former Chessie System GM50
- 9699 is a EMD GP38-2 painted MOW orange, she was Trains Magazine's "All American Diesel" for 1982 (former B&O 3802, now at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland)

See also


- List of CSX Transportation lines
- List of CSX Transportation predecessor railroads
- CSX milepost prefixes

External links


- [http://www.csx.com/ CSX official website]
- [http://CSX-Sucks.com/ CSX parody website]
- [http://csx.history.railfan.net/ CSX History]
- [http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/ CSX Photo Archives]
- [http://www.railserve.com/railnews/csx_news.html CSX News]
- [http://pages.prodigy.net/bote_rail/Contents.html CSX timetables] (partial listing)

References


- Milt Dolinger, [http://www.trains.com/content/dynamic/articles/000/000/002/997majiu.asp How CSX got its name], Trains

Category:Georgia railroads

This category is for railro