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Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad

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Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad
Brunswick headquarters in the early 1900s
Overview
Dates of operation1902–1904
SuccessorAtlantic and Birmingham Railway
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

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).

History

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The Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad 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,[1] and the Ocilla and Irwinville Railroad on February 19, 1903. The railroad ran into financial troubles and was purchased by 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.[2][3] 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 the AB&C into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.[4] 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 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.[5] After the Seaboard System became CSX Transportation, the line between Sessoms and Alma was abandoned in 1986.[6]

Current conditions

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The former headquarters building in 2015

The railroad's former headquarters are today the Ritz Theatre in the Brunswick Old Town Historic District.

A small segment of the line in Brunswick south of Southern Junction is still in service and is part of CSX's Brunswick Subdivision (which primarily uses the former Brunswick and Western Railroad north and west of Southern Junction).[7]

Much of the railroad's former right of way parallels State Route 32 and much of it is now a power line corridor.[6]

Historic stations

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Milepost City/Location Station[8][7] Connections and notes
AOB 532.0 Brunswick Brunswick
AOB 538.0 Brunswick Yard
AOB 541.0 Southern Junction junction with:
AOB 543.0 Greenland
AOB 544.4 Brobston
AOB 545.9 Buffalo
AOB 547.8 Anguilla Anguilla
AOB 549.0 Leicht
AOB 551.2 Blunt
AOB 553.0 Thalmann Thalmann junction with Seaboard Air Line Railroad Main Line
AOB 555.7 Lott
AOB 559.1 Browntown
AOB 560.4 Old Grade
AOB 563.0 Fendig
AOB 566.0 Needmore
AOB 570.0 Hortense Hortense junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Main Line
AOB 574.0 Giles
AOB 575.8 Zirkle Zirkle
AOB 581.0 Offerman Offerman junction with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Jesup—Folkston Line
AOB 585.0 Aspinwall
AOB 587.6 Bristol Bristol
AOB 591.4 Woods
AOB 592.4 Mershon Mershon
AOB 592.7 Bynum
AOB 594.6 Coffee Coffee
AOB 599.5 New Lacy
AOB 602.1 Rockingham Rockingham
AOB 605.4 Alma Alma
AOB 606.1 Southern Pines
AOB 609.2 Guysie
AOB 613.0 Sessoms junction with Waycross Air Line Railroad (AB&C/ACL)

References

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  1. ^ Offerman & Western Railroad (RailGA)
  2. ^ Storey, Steve (September 14, 2018). "Railroads - Postwar Expansion and Consolidation". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad (GEORGIA'S RAILROADS, 1833-2015: Historic Context and Statewide Survey)" (PDF). Georgia Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  4. ^ "Wesley Thomas Hargrett collection". sclfind.libs.uga.edu. Hargrett Manuscripts and Russell Library Finding Aids. Retrieved August 8, 2021. The collection consists of the papers of Wesley Thomas Hargrett from 1889-1919. The materials pertain to business operations of various Georgia railway companies
  5. ^ Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Florence and Atlanta Division Timetable (1982)
  6. ^ a b Brunswick to Nichols (Abandoned Rails)
  7. ^ a b CSX Jacksonville Division Timetable (2005)
  8. ^ "Georgia Railroads: Passenger Stations & Stops" (PDF). The Branch Line Society. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
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