Gulf Line Railway History

"The Canal Route"

By Russell Tedder

Gulf Line Route Map

The earliest predecessor of the Gulf Line Railway was the Flint River & Gulf Railway Company, which was incorporated in Georgia on October 14, 1901. The FR&G was constructed by the J. S. Betts Company primarily as a logging railroad for its large sawmill at Ashburn, Georgia. However, the road was not placed in operation until March 1, 1906 at which time 18.5 miles of standard gauge track had been completed and 13 additional miles were under construction. It was operating eight locomotives and 30 log cars and the track was laid with 60-pound steel rail. By June 4, 1906 the FR&G had completed approximately 32 miles from Ashburn to Bridgeboro, Ga., where it connected with the Georgia Northern Railway. Connections were also made with the Georgia Southern & Florida at Ashburn and the Atlantic Coast Line at Sylvester, Georgia. By November 1, 1906, two daily except Sunday mixed trains were in service between Ashburn and Bridgeboro.

On May 1, 1907, for an annual sum of $18,000, the Flint River & Gulf leased for operation 42 miles of the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern Railway Company between Hawkinsville and Worth, Georgia. The H&FS track was laid with 56-pound steel rails. The original 17 miles of the road, between Pitts, Ga., and Worth, had been built by the Enterprise Lumber Company as a logging or sawmill railroad which was sold to the H&FS on July 11, 1896. Under contract with the lumber company, the H&FS constructed an additional 25 miles of track to extend the line from Pitts to Hawkinsville. Although the GS&F purchased an interest in the capital stock of the H&FS in October 1903, the road continued to operate independently until leased to the FR&G. Simultaneously with the lease from the H&FS, the approximately 3-mile connection between the leased track at Worth and the FR&G at Ashburn was bridged by trackage rights over the GS&F. With the lease, the FR&G operated a total of about 76 miles of track extending from Hawkinsville to Bridgeboro. The road operated two round trip mixed trains between the two terminals.

Effective May 1, 1907, the 42-mile H&FS was leased to certain New York investors who planned to assign the lease to a new corporation known as the Gulf Line Railway which they would form. However, the lease was temporarily transferred to the Flint River & Gulf Railway pending the organization of the new company. On July 11, 1907, the investors incorporated the Gulf Line Railway Company under the laws of the State of Georgia to acquire, construct, maintain and operate a line of railroad from Hawkinsville to an unspecified point on the Gulf of Mexico. In furtherance of this goal, the Gulf Line acquired the property of the FR&G from J. S. Betts on August 8, 1907 for $300,000 par value of its capital stock and $300,000 par value of first-mortgage bonds. The Gulf Line also continued the lease of the 42 miles of H&FS tracks.

The principal office of the Gulf Line was in Macon. However, control of the affairs of the company was vested in the banking firm of Kissel, Kinnicutt and Company of New York, as owners of all outstanding securities. As of September 1, 1907, the road was operating two round trip mixed trains between Hawkinsville and Bridgeboro and one mixed between Hawkinsville and Sylvester. At that time, the Gulf Line was operating seven locomotives, three passenger cars and two baggage cars. Freight equipment included three boxcars, 78 flatcars and four service cars, a total of 90 freight cars. Three locomotives, one passenger car, one baggage car, one boxcar, 16 flatcars and three service cars were held under lease from the H&FS.

The Hawkinsville & Florida Southern was merged into the Gulf Line Railway on August 8, 1909 at which time its original charter was surrendered. Gulf Line maps issued soon after the merger projected the line to extend from Bridgeboro to Bainbridge, Ga., on the Flint River. The road was promoted as the "Canal Route," possibly in connection with a plan to use the Flint and Appalachicola rivers to reach the Gulf Coast from Bainbridge. Certain directors of the Gulf Line organized the Cotton States Construction Company for the purpose of constructing extensions to the recently acquired road. The first contract was for building about three miles from Bridgeboro to South End, which was completed by March 1, 1911. The remainder of the line, 16 miles between South End and Camilla, was completed by the contractor and put in operation about March 1, 1912. The Gulf Line also operated a 14-mile road from Hawkinsville to Grovania, Ga., which it had leased from the Hawkinsville & Western Railway Company from July 1, 1912 through June 30, 1913. On its Time Table No. 10, effective December 8, 1912, a daily first-class roundtrip mixed train was operated between Hawkinsville and Camilla with two additional daily roundtrips running out of Ashburn to Hawkinsville and Camilla, respectively. Two roundtrip mixed trains also ran on the leased track between Hawkinsville and Grovania, where the road connected with the GS&F, on what was called the Hawkinsville and Perry Division.

By July 1913 the Gulf Line was operating at its peak of 111 miles of track with nine locomotives, 68 flatcars marked FR&G, 25 flatcars marked H&FS and four cabooses. Passenger equipment included nine coaches, one baggage and one H&FS coach. All equipment was being re-lettered Gulf Line at that time.

However, the end was already in sight. The Gulf Line's lease of the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern was terminated by agreement on July 31, 1913 in contemplation of the sale of the Gulf Line to the H&FS the next day. On August 1, 1913, the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern was re-incorporated in Georgia and purchased the property of the Gulf Line Railway. Approximately 96 miles of track between Hawkinsville and Camilla, including about three miles of trackage rights over the GS&F between Worth and Ashburn, were then operated by the new H&FS, whose complete story is told elsewhere.

The open accounts of the Gulf Line Railway Company were finally liquidated in 1915. The Canal Route, the road with an ambition to reach from Hawkinsville to the Gulf of Mexico, was then relegated to the annals of history.

Sources:

American Lumberman's Sawmill and Equipment Registers, American Lumberman, Chicago: 1906, 1907, 1910 and 1912.

Flint River & Gulf Railway, Time Tables No. 2, effective Monday, June 4, 1906 and No. 4, effective November 1, 1906.

Gulf Line Railway Company, Time Tables No. 1, effective September 1, 1907 and No. 10, effective December 10, 1912.

Gulf Line Railway Company, Local Time Table and Through Connections, May 1908.

Hawkinsville & Florida Southern Railway Company, Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Docket No. 42, decided December 3, 1926.

Official Railway Equipment Register, The Railway Equipment and Publication Company, New York: July 1913.

Official Guide of the Railways, National Railway Publication Company, New York: December 1908, January 1910 and August 1911.

Poor, H. V. and H. W., Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States, Poor's Railroad Manual Company, New York: 1900, 1902, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1914.