North Georgia
Railroad is based on part of the actual shortline railroad, which
runs from Marietta to Ellijay,
Georgia. Although
construction of this line did not begin until 1874, it was initially
chartered in Georgia as The Ellijay
Railroad in 1854, seven years before the Civil
War.
It was some
five years after the close of the Civil War before Georgia railroad builders
were organized and ready to go back to work. The first thing they
did was to change the name again, this time to the Marietta and
North Georgia Railroad Company. To keep construction cost to a
minimum, the road bed followed the contour of the land, The
Louisville and Nashville magazine gave the following account of the
construction of the road: "Builders avoided the necessity of
expensive cuts, fills, and tunneling by giving the line many a
voluptuous curve and many a steep grade." Today in the 41 miles of
track between Marietta and Tate there are more
than 174 curves.
The railroad
was completed from Marietta to
Canton and train service began
there in 1879. It took until 1883, for the railroad to reach Jasper,
by 1884, it reached Ellijay and then by 1886, Blue Ridge and Mineral
Bluff.
In 1886, the
owners of the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad began building
another railroad, the Knoxville Southern Railroad, south from
Knoxville, Tennessee and up the Hiawassee Gorge to meet the Marietta
and North Georgia Railroad at the state line. In 1890, the two
railroads amended their charter, to permit them to connect at the
Tennessee line near what is now
Copperhill,
Tennessee.
The Marietta
North Georgia pushed ahead with a new main line from Blue Ridge, Georgia through Copperhill on to the
Ocoee
River.
Knoxville Southern was advancing
steadily down the Hiawassee Gorge. In June 1890, the tracks finally
connected Knoxville to Marietta. Soon
after the two railroads, the Knoxville Southern Railway and the
Marietta and North Georgia Railway,
connected with each other they were consolidated under the name of
the latter company.
Then in 1896,
new owners came on board and re-named the railroad The Atlanta
Knoxville and Northern. The Louisville and Nashville (L&N) was interested
in the Atlanta Knoxville and Northern Railroad to keep it from
falling into the hands of its rival, the Southern Railway. In early
1902, the L & N gained control of the Knoxville and
Northern Railroad. The L & N and the success of the Atlantic
Coast Line continued to operate the railroad until the formation of
the Seaboard System in 1983. However, the name the Atlanta Knoxville
and Northern Railway totally disappeared in 1905. Freight and
passenger traffic proved too heavy and the cars too long to be
handled satisfactorily through the mountains. This made it virtually
necessary for a more feasible line to be constructed southward from
Etowah,
Tennessee. In 1906, the
L & N built a straight line between Etowah, Tennessee and Cartersville, Georgia completely
bypassing this line.
