Georgia & Albany Railway

Banker and lawyer Samuel H. Hawkins saw greater potential in the line than had been realized up until then. An extension from Abbeville to Lyons opened in June 1890, and an extension from Louvale to the Chattahoochee River was completed a few months later. At Lyons the SA&M connected with a new line to Savannah opened in May 1890 by the Savannah & Western Railroad, a subsidiary of the Central of Georgia. The new Abbeville-Lyons and Louvale-Chattahoochee River tracks were constructed at standard gauge. Meanwhile the 106-mile Louvale-Americus Abbeville trackage, which was all narrow gauge, was rebuilt to standard gauge in 1889-90. At Abbeville, the SA&M connected with its fleet of riverboats operating on the Ocmulgee and Altamaha rivers to Darien, Brunswick, and Savannah. The railroad owned five such boats in 1891. These were apparently sold not long after the rail connection to Savannah was completed. At the time, the railroad operated 19 locomotives and 1,048 cars, according to Poors 1891 Manual of the Railroads. In 1892 the SA&M leased the Albany & Northern Railway, a 35-mile line between Albany and Cordele. In 1895 the SA&M was sold under foreclosure to a syndicate formed by the Richmond banking firm of John L. Williams and Sons and the Baltimore firm of Middendorf, Oliver and Company. It was reorganized as the Georgia & Alabama Railway. The Cordele-Albany line was reorganized as a separate independent company, the Albany Northern Railway.

Cordele, Georgia · United States