Doing some research on the Central of Georgia, once the "top dog" in Macon, RR-wise, and found out there's a connection with a certain Missouri-based railroad of fine distinction- In 1956 Frisco, looking to expand esatward to the Atlantic coats, started buying interest in the CofG, obtaining a total of 71% of the stock. Frisco went no further east that Birmingham, AL, and had a Gulf access down in Pensacola, FL and Mobile, AL. However, the ICC in 1963 decided that this would be bad for competition (IMO, bull*%$@), and made Frisco divest itself of all stock. The purchaser was Southern Railway, and of course now you know the rest of the story. A shame, since Frisco coulda gone east on the Savannah District out of Macon to Savannah, GA, and woulda been the final operator of such trains as the Nancy Hanks II, Man O'War, and a little local called the Cracker. The ICC went on to make such monumental decisions as the 15-year delay of the UP-Rock Island merger.
The Milwaukee Road? Ha ha ha.... I learned about this, years ago. For filing purposes of my train order collection. But the one thing unclear, is when the Southern actually physically absorbed CGA. Neither the SR Historical Society, nor the NS themselves couldn't supply me accurate info! That's strange! :sad: Boxcab E50
Boxcab E50 - Don't have my source material to hand, but am fairly certain the merger date was June 30, 1963. Was "out of town" when the merger occured, but took some photos of a Southern painted F-3, lettered "Central of Georgia" while all the rest of the units were still in the C of G's "collard" green colors. This would have been circa Aug. '64.
Interesting! One can only wonder if the ICC didn't fiddle-fart around for 15 years, and actually approved the merger that would have saved the Rock, what the former Rock lines would look like today?:hmm4er:
I know they acquired the CGA in 1963. But thereafter, so many units were sublettered CGA, etc. Did they actually just absorb the corporate portion? And continue to operate the CGA seperately, under the CGA name? Boxcab E50
After Borg-ing, probably a lot less would exist, than survives now. There's actually quite a bit of the RI still surviving today. Boxcab E50
It figures that Frisco Bob would come up with a south GA connection to the Frisco. Would have changed the face of southern railroading had that happened. Just think of all the places that would have 3 major roads vs 2 now days.
what can I tell ya................ Not to mention the addition of BN, and later BNSF, in middle Georgia- BNSF woulda been the first for-real transcon in the US! The Griffin District woulda possibly been beefed up, or a connecting track at Edgewood Jact woulda been built to accomodate Savannah District-Griffin District trains, while passing thru Macon Terminal. As for the Frisco connection, I just repeats what I reads.....
Boxcab E-50: I don't know how they treated the legal part of the transaction but apparently a lot of cars and at least the new engines were apparently treated just like regular Southern units. As far as I know Southern had so many subsidiaries that at least had ownership intials stuck somewhere on the unit/car. At the time I had a lot of dealings with Southern and I noticed that as they absorbed these smaller roads, we'd start getting a lot of CofG, TA&G, G&F and S&A cars, some still in their original paint schemes, mixed in with the regular Southern cars.
I have thought of the same before, but you know if BN stretched that far east, the STB might not have granted the ATSF-BN merger. Then again in my world WP, DRGW and MP formed a corporate alliance to thwart the UP take overs.
It would then have been interesting, to see who AT&SF sought out as a merger partner...... :hmm4er: Boxcab E50
And theres still an in use x frisco yard in birmingham,al complete with a transload building and an auto loading facility. tom
If the SLSF had merged with the CGA, the ICC might not have permitted the BN to absorb the SLSF, nevermind the BN-ATSF merger a quarter century later! The railroad world is full of "what if's". Funny how NYC ended up with Chessie and PRR ended up with N&W a half century after the ICC prevented the natural alliances...mg:
Actually, with the merger of CofG into Southern, we lost two railroads. Central of Georgia bought the Savannah & Atlanta Rwy. in the early 1950's and allowed them to keep their own diesel color scheme, herald, and road name. As far as one could tell, they were two separate and distinct railroads. S&A had a lot of light rail, eleven Baldwin A-1-A road switchers and served a rather rural area between Savannah and Camak, Ga. where they interchanged with the Georgia Railroad.
I'd forgotten all about the S&A. Wish someone had a few photos of their operations to share. Weren't they one of several companies, that crossed each other at Central Junction? Must have been quite a site. Boxcab E50
I've got the photos, both prints and slides, taken at their (S&A's) enginehouse right close to Central Junction. A friend and I became friends with the hostler there and we got quite a few rides on the weekends on those A-1-A Baldwins. On Saturday mornings the hostler was putting together the units for the Saturday p.m. train to Camak. Central Junction was quite a show with 5 railroads interchanging and crossing over each other within a couple of miles. Besides CofG, S&A, SAL, and ACL - the Southern had trackage rights over ACL from just north of Savannah to Jacksonville, FL. If I can ever figure out how to transfer those prints and slides via the Internet, will be glad to do so. But right now ...?
