Atlanta and Birmingham Air Line Railway

The Atlanta and Birmingham Air Line Railway was formed when the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) purchased the capital stock of the bankrupt East and West Railroad of Alabama (E&W) on April 23, 1902.[1] The E&W Railroad had already established a line from Cartersville, Georgia, to Pell City, Alabama, through the cities of Rockmart, Georgia, Cedartown, Georgia, and Piedmont, Alabama.

The SAL then merged the E&W into a new subsidiary called the Atlanta and Birmingham Air Line Railway. With this new subsidiary, a 37-mile extension was built from Coal City, Alabama (renamed to Wattsville in 1917) [2] to Birmingham, AL. In addition, a 43-mile connection from Howells, Georgia (located in Northwest Atlanta) was constructed to meet the former E&W at Rockmart.

Some of the sights on the line include the Pumpkinvine Creek Trestle located in Paulding County, Georgia, which was built in 1901 by the E&W and is 126 feet high and 750 feet long.[3] Because of the mountainous terrain in Alabama, 3 tunnels were constructed on this line. At the time, SAL had no tunnels anywhere on their entire system.[4] The tunnels constructed were the Divide Tunnel (now called Bushy Mountain Tunnel) located near Braswell, Georgia,[5] the Hardwick Tunnel located between Odenville and Wattsville, Alabama,[4] and the Roper Tunnel located near Trussville, Alabama. The 3 tunnels totaled 2,964 ft. in length.[6] Currently, the Hardwick and Roper tunnels are being used by the Alabama and Tennessee River Railway, a subsidiary railroad of OmniTRAX.[7]

In 1904 the A&BAL reached Birmingham where it interchanged with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N), the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (Frisco) and the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). The A&BAL also reached Howells (located in Northwest Atlanta), which became the location of the Seaboard Georgia Division offices, and a switching yard and Locomotive servicing and repair shop. After the A&BAL opened in late 1904, the 22-mile Rockmart-Cartersville link and the Coal City-Pell City tracks became branches off the main line.[8] The line officially opened for freight traffic on December 5, 1904, and passenger service July 2, 1905.[4]

Birmingham Subdivision
Overview
Status	Some segments still operating
Owner	Seaboard Air Line Railroad
Termini	Atlanta, Georgia Birmingham, Alabama
Technical
Line length	162.6 mi (261.7 km)
Electrification	No

The Seaboard Air Line fully absorbed the A&BAL in 1909. Once the Seaboard gained full control of the line, they designated the line from Atlanta to Birmingham as the Birmingham Subdivision. Track from Rockmart to Cartersville was designated as the Cartersville Subdivision. All tunnels on the line were eventually concrete-lined, starting in 1909. The rebuilding of the original E&W line in 1909 also included straightening of curves on the existing trackage which required deep cuts through granite rock, resulting in the removal of over 6 miles of circuitous trackage.

The Silver Comet, The Cherry Blossoms, and The Capitol were Seaboard passenger trains that ran the line daily from Atlanta to Birmingham.[9]

In 1967, the Seaboard Air Line merged with its rival, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL). The merged company was named the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL). In 1980, the Seaboard Coast Line's parent company merged with the Chessie System, creating the CSX Corporation. The CSX Corporation initially operated the Chessie and Seaboard Systems separately until 1986, when they were merged into CSX Transportation.

The original SAL Birmingham Subdivision was eventually abandoned in 1988 by CSX from Cedartown to Wellington and from Rockmart to Smyrna, Georgia (near Atlanta).