Birmingham Southern Railroad - System Index Map

The Birmingham Southern Railroad was a

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

in the

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, area. It ceased operating in 2012 when its assets were acquired by

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) Watco is an American transportation and logistics company based in Pittsburg, Kansas. The company’s core services are freight transportation, material handling and storage, logistics, railcar repair and maintena ...

's Birmingham Terminal Railway.

History

The Birmingham Southern Railroad Company was founded on March 3, 1899. The line was originally built between 1878 from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

to Pratt City to haul coal to the steel mills in Birmingham. The line was extended to Ensley in 1887. The

Louisville & Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of t ...

and the Southern Railway jointly purchased and operated the Birmingham Southern shortly after the Birmingham Southern's organization. The Birmingham Southern was later sold to the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, which in 1906 became a part of the

United States Steel Corporation The United States Steel Corporation is an American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, ...

and remained a U.S.S. Corp. subsidiary until 1988. The railroad expanded its lines in the western industrial section of Jefferson County by 1910. In 1966, the Birmingham Southern acquired the Federal Barge Lines (also known as the Barge Line Railroad) that ran from Ensley to Port Birmingham, giving the Birmingham Southern access to

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, via the barge lines of the Warrior River. The Barge Line Railroad track was formerly owned by the Southern Railway. In 1988, the Birmingham Southern was sold to Transtar, the transportation subsidiary of United States Steel. In 1989, United States Steel sold Transtar and Transtar became a privately held company specializing in the operation of short line railroads and barge lines that primarily serve United States Steel and its successors. On May 17, 2007, Birmingham Southern Railroad was awarded a Gold E. H. Harriman Award in the S&T Group for the railroad's 2006 safety record. On December 2, 2011,

announced plans to purchase the Birmingham Southern. The railroad was subsequently renamed Birmingham Terminal Railway; operations under the new name began on February 1, 2012.

Surviving Locomotives

*Birmingham Southern No. 82, an ALCO HH900, is on static display at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera, Alabama.

References

* *

External links

ALCO HH900 No. 82
*

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...

(HAER) documentation: ** ** {{Authority control 1899 establishments in Alabama American companies established in 1899 Defunct Alabama railroads Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama Railway companies established in 1899 Railway companies disestablished in 2012 Switching and terminal railroads Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company

History

Surviving Locomotives

See also

References

External links