WADLEY SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY (WDS)
===========================================
Historical Snapshot: Wadley Southern Railway * Om July 6, 1906, the Stillmore Air Line Railway and the Wadley & Mount Vernon Railroad consolidated their efforts under the newly incorporated rail line, the Wadley Souhern Railway Company. * The original plans of the two earlier companies are not apparent based on current information at hand, however, the new Wadley Southern was 90 miles in in length and divided in two branches. Branch No.1 was 37 miles in length from Wadley to Rockledge, Georgia. Branch No.2 was 53 miles in length from Wadley to Collins Georgia. * Connections were made at Wadley with the Central of Georgia and the Louisville & Wadley. At Rockledge connections were made with the Macon, Dublin & Savanah. At Collins they connected to the Seaboaed Air Line. Other connections included the Augusta & Florida Railway at Swainsboro, the Millen & Southwestern R.R, at Stillmore, and the Collins & Reedville at Collins. * August, 1926: Traffic over the line included five locaL trains a day, each way. The Wadley & Southern had four coal burning steam locomotives, two baggage- passenger combine cars, one mail-baggage-passenger car, and two passenger cars. Freight cars were listed as three flat cars. * During the early part of the 1900's there were many railroads criss-crossing and paralleling each other all over Georgia, perhaps too many railroads. As transportation technology changed there was just not enough business to go around. * For most of the years during the 1920's the company ran at a deficit. During the latter part, even before the Depression, it got worse. * In July of 1928, the company abandoned 22 of the 37 miles of branch No.1 from Kite to Rockledge. In September of 1930 all but two miles of branch No.1 was abandoned and 33 of the 53 miles of branch No.2 between Swainsboro and Collins. Remaining milage as of that time: 22.93 miles * The abandonment did not hurt the Wadley & Southern as much as one might expect. The local Whrightsville & Tennile, the Louisville & Wadley, the Sylvania Central and the Wadley Southern were all wholey owned subsidiaries of the Central of Georgia Railway Company. They all had one management; they exchanged equipment and they all generated longer distance freight for the Central of Georgia. * In the case of the Wadley Southern: the Central of Georgia lost nothing because of the abandonment. It made three direct connections to most of the points along the abandoned line that generated freight. The abandonment probably really happened because the track was a duplication of the parent. * As of 1938, the Wadley & Southern was down to one baggage/passenger combine car #40. Evidently all freight cars came from the parent. The line remained from Creek Junction (two miles east of Wadley) to swainsboro, Georgia. * From 1938, to April of 1964, when the Wadley Southern was finally abandoned, the operation remained about the same.
All items in this railroad section are shopping cart accessible.
In addition to being able to buy via mail, our have us send you a PayPal invoice, direct shopping via a PayPal shopping cart is now also available.
Wadley Southern 2-6-0 locomotive #53
Image, Wadley Southern Ry. 2-6-0 Loco #53 Order No. WDS53I Wadley Southern Railway 2-6-0 locomotive #53 sits in front of the company's shed at Wadley, Georgia one 1940 day. Shopping Cart 8.5" by 11" Image, Price - $ 5.00 [Add To Cart] --------------------
Click here to return to the section on
MIDWEST AND SOUTHERN RAILROADS
Click here to return to Master Database page.
