The Abbeville Southern Railway was incorporated in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

in September 1892 for the purpose of building a railroad line from

Grimes, Alabama Grimes is a town in Dale County, Alabama, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 558, up from 459 in 2000. It is part of the Enterprise–Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Grimes is located in southeastern Dale ...

northeast to

Abbeville, Alabama Abbeville is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, in the southeast part of Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2020 census, the population was 2,358. History European Ame ...

. The route was completed in December 1893, totaling , and was operated by the

Alabama Midland Railway The Alabama Midland Railway was incorporated in Alabama and Georgia in 1887, and built a line from Bainbridge, Georgia, to a point near Montgomery, Alabama. The route was completed in 1890. It became part of the Plant System in 1894, and in 1901 ...

History

The Abbeville Southern Railway was created in September 1892 to build a branch line from the

in Grimes, reaching Abbeville in December of the following year. Following the completion of construction, the line was transferred to the Alabama Midland Railway, which operated the line until it was merged with

Henry B. Plant Henry Bradley Plant (October 27, 1819 – June 23, 1899), was a businessman, entrepreneur, and investor involved with many transportation interests and projects, mostly railroads, in the southeastern United States. He was founder of the Plant Sy ...

Savannah, Florida and Western Railway The Plant System, named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Wester ...

on September 2, 1901. In 1902, the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...

acquired the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway along with the rest of the

Plant System The Plant System, named after its owner, Henry B. Plant, was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system was the Savannah, Florida and Western ...

. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad operated the line as their Abbeville Branch (NF Branch). The Atlantic Coast Line would operate mixed trains (consisting of both passengers and freight) on the branch for many years but was eventually downgraded to freight only. Trains would connect with other Atlantic Coast Line services on the

Waycross—Montgomery Line The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad's Waycross—Montgomery Line (N Line) was one of the company's secondary main lines running from Waycross, Georgia west to Montgomery, Alabama, a distance of over 300 miles. It was built in the late 1800s by the ...

in Grimes.Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Southern Division Timetable (1949)
/ref> The Atlantic Coast Line maintained control of the line from 1902 until 1967 when it was merged with the

Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

to form the

Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...

(SCL). Under the Seaboard Coast Line, the branch was designated as the Grimes Subdivision (the name

Abbeville Subdivision The Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railway was a Southeastern railroad that began after Reconstruction and operated up until the start of the 20th century. It ran from Monroe, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia and later became part of the Seaboa ...

was already in use on one of the company's lines through

Abbeville, South Carolina Abbeville is a city and county seat of Abbeville County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is located west of Columbia and south of Greenville. Its population was 5,237 at the 2010 census. Settled by French Huguenot settlers, it was n ...

). Local freight service continued and was scheduled to originate and terminate at Grimes. The local was numbered 641 while traveling towards Abbeville, and 640 for the return trip to Grimes. This local worked after the daily Montgomery-bound morning local passed through the area with fresh carloads for the branch, and returned well before the return trip local out of Montgomery to Dothan arrived again to retrieve cars from train 640's earlier trip. On October 28, 1979, the scheduled 641 and 640 trains were removed from the Waycross Division timetable and instead the branch was operated independent of an established schedule.Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Savannah and Waycross Division Timetable (1982)
/ref> In the final years of the Seaboard Coast Line, the branch was operated as a local road switcher with permanently stationed locomotives on the line or with an as-needed local launched from Dothan to work the Stone Container Corp woodchip mill in Abbeville. In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated u ...

, creating the

CSX Corporation CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merge ...

. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

. In the late 1980s CSX sought to abandon the line from Grimes to Abbeville. However, the

Stone Container Corporation Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation was a global paperboard and paper-based packaging company based in Creve Coeur, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois, with approximately 21,000 employees. In 2007, Smurfit-Stone was ranked 13 in PricewaterhouseC ...

, operator of a woodchip mill near Abbeville and the parent company of the

Bay Line Railroad The Bay Line Railroad is one of several short line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates between Panama City, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via trackage right ...

, sought to purchase the branch and preserve service, which it did on March 1, 1989. The company created the Abbeville–Grimes Railway Company to operate the branch. Rail Services Inc. was responsible for operations of the Abbeville–Grimes Railway using locomotives and rolling stock was supplied by the

. On January 1, 1994, the Bay Line was sold to

Rail Management Corporation Durden Enterprises II Inc - Formally Rail Management Corporation (RMC), based in Panama City Beach, Florida, was a holding company of short line railroads in the southeastern United States. History On May 26, 2005, Genesee and Wyoming (G&W) ...

with the Abbeville–Grimes Railway included in the purchase. The name was shortened to the A&G Railroad and continued to operate with Bay Line locomotives. The A&G was formally merged into the

on June 26, 1996, and ceased to exist as a separate entity. The Bay Line Railroad still operates the line today.

Historic stations

References

{{reflist Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Defunct Alabama railroads Predecessors of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Railway companies established in 1892 Railway companies disestablished in 1893