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The start of the war found the Southern states well into the
first railroad construction boom. In addition to the over 110
operating railroads, many roads had extension plans and many
community leaders had plans for new roads. I have already
written the stories of the ones that had serious war use and
were therefore pushed as far and the Confederacy’s limited
resources would allow. Below is a brief look at many other
construction projects that were pushed to some extent during the
war. There were many other road discussed, especially in
Virginia, that never had any work done on them. |
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Alabama |
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Shelby Iron Works Railroad
This five-mile road was needed to connect the very valuable iron
foundry to the Alabama & Tennessee River Railroad. After a
ridiculous fight with the local Ordnance official, the company
was finally allowed to make their own flat rail and lay it to
speed the movement of iron and coal to and from the works. The
road first carried traffic in January, 1865. |
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Selma & Gulf Railroad
This sixty-mile road was chartered in 1858 to be part of a line
from Nashville to Pensacola (with Mobile a remote alternative).
About forty miles had been graded south from Selma and
forty-three miles of iron had been ordered when the war stopped
work. |
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Tennessee & Cossa Railroad
A thirty-seven mile road to connect the Alabama & Tennessee
River Railroad at Gadsden to the Winchester & Alabama Railroad
for travel to Nashville. The road was ready for iron in June,
1861, but no further work was done. |
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Opelika & Tuscumbia Railroad
This 232-mile road was chartered in 1854 and had been graded to
Waverley in 1861. It was intended to travel through Waverley,
Dadeville, Childersburg and Talladega to Tuscumbia. The road’s
name change in 1866 identified its purpose – Savannah & Memphis
Railroad. |
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Opelika & Oxford Railroad
This ninety-mile road was to connect Opelika, on the Montgomery
& West Point Railroad to Oxford, on the Alabama & Tennessee
River Railroad. Contracts were first let in June, 1860 for the
first sixteen miles (Opelika to Lafayette). One-third of the
grading and two-thirds of the culverting had been completed when
the war stopped work. |
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Arkansas |
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Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad
This 163-mile road was chartered in 1853. Grading had been
completed when the war began, but no iron was laid until 1870. |
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Mississippi, Ouachita & Red River Railroad
At 155-miles, this road was to run from present Arkansas City,
on the Mississippi River to Monticello, Camden, and Lewisville
on the Red River. This road was one of many that were built to
go around the obstacle of rivers with frequent low water levels,
in this case the Red and Ouachita Rivers. The road hoped to
become part of a through line from Charleston to San Francisco.
When the war started, seven miles of iron had been laid
southwest of Arkansas City in 1857, but the road was not in
operation and was not under construction. |
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Florida |
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Thomasville to Bainbridge
This thirty-seven mile extension of the Savannah, Albany & Gulf
Railroad would have completed the plan for that road, extending
it to the Chattahoochee River. Grading continued through 1864,
with a total of thirty miles graded west from Thomasville. It
gained new attention, when Savannah was captured, as a way to
connect southern Georgia to the rest of the Confederacy, by way
of the river, but no additional work was completed. |
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Georgia |
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Savannah, Griffin & North Alabama Railroad
This road was to connect the port of Savannah to the main
north-south line from Nashville. The route was from Savannah to
Griffin to Newnan (all Georgia) to Decatur, Alabama, at which
point connection would be made to the Nashville & Decatur
Railroad. The road would have to do work on 175 miles and use
other roads for the rest of the route, with a total distance
between its two named cities being about 425 miles. A railroad
guidebook in 1863, said the road had completed the forty-five
miles grading from Griffin northwest to the Chattahoochee River
and had no debt. |
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Polk Slate Quarry Railroad
This was a twelve-mile road to connect the Polk Slate Quarry, in
Paulding County, to the Western & Atlantic Railroad. Grading
contracts were let in July, 1860. There was enough time to
complete the road, but its status remains unknown. The slate was
used for the roofs of new the Confederate Armory in Macon,
shipping through Cartersville. It may have been operational, but
using the Western & Atlantic’s rolling stock. The intention was
to make a road ninety-five miles long, connecting to the Alabama
& Tennessee River Railroad in Jacksonville, Alabama. |
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Atlanta & Roswell Railroad
This eighteen mile road was incorporated by the Legislature in
early 1863 to connect the Georgia Railroad near Decatur (east of
Atlanta) to the cotton and wool mills at Roswell. The owner of
the mills was James R. King and the President of the Georgia
Railroad was John P. King. The Government refused the
resignation of the engineer who was hired to build the road,
probably because they knew there was no iron for such a project. |
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Louisiana |
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New Orleans & Texas Railroad
This would have been the central road in the long-desired
Houston to New Orleans line. This road would have been 117
miles, from the New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western Railroad
terminal in New Iberia to the Texas & New Orleans Railroad
terminal at Orange, Texas. Such a road would skirt the hazards
of travel on the Gulf of Mexico, especially during the war, the
Union blockade fleet. The road was one of those that President
Davis considered essential and got Congress to furnish a loan
for the construction. Of course, the loss of New Orleans in the
spring of 1862 killed the main need for the road. Interest later
revived to connect the southwestern part of Louisiana to the
rest of the Trans-Mississippi Department, but without any work
being accomplished. |
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Louisiana Central Stem of the Mississippi & Pacific Railroad
(Baton Rouge to Texas) This road of 232 miles was intended to
ensure that the produce of northeastern Texas went to New
Orleans, rather than by a new Texas railroad, to Houston. The
intended route was from the west bank across from Baton Rouge to
Alexandria to Shreveport to connect to the Vicksburg, Shreveport
& Texas Railroad and the great southern route to California. By
December, 1861, twenty-two miles had been graded, Atchafalaya
River to Bayou Boeuf, when work stopped. Iron for the first
eighty miles had been contracted and some of it delivered by
July, 1860. |
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Mississippi |
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Canton to Aberdeen
This was a 120-mile feeder line for the New Orleans, Jackson &
Great Northern Railroad that went through a major cotton
producing area. The route would cross the Mobile & Ohio Railroad
at either Prairie or Egypt stations and continue northeast
another nine miles. The first twenty-six miles from Canton to
Kosciusko was completely graded and the remaining fourteen miles
had been partly graded during 1861. By early 1862, the nine
miles from Aberdeen to the Mobile & Ohio Railroad was complete
enough to begin laying iron as soon as the Mobile & Ohio
Railroad forwarded the iron from Mobile. It is not known whether
any iron was laid or not, but the entire length was not in
operation during the war. |
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South Carolina |
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Cheraw & Coalfields Railroad
This fifty-five mile road was intended to supply coal and iron,
from the Deep River field, to Charleston by connecting with the
Cheraw & Darlington Railroad. It was chartered in 1857 and at
least some grading was begun in 1862, with at least ten miles
completed, but with no iron laid. Though most of the road was in
North Carolina, the entire impetus for it came from Cheraw and
Charleston. |
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Port Royal Railroad
When completed, this road would have taken 105 miles to connect
Port Royal to the Charleston & Savannah Railroad and then to
Augusta. It was chartered in 1861 and grading continued into
late 1863, despite Port Royal’s being in enemy hands since
November, 1861. By the end of 1863, thirty miles had been
graded. |
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Shelby & Broad River Railroad
This short road was chartered in February, 1863 in both North
and South Carolina. The road would have connected the Magnetic
Iron Works, on the Broad River, just east of Gaffney, at
Cherokee Ford (now Cherokee Falls), to an unidentified railroad.
The charters had allowed the road to connect to any of the
railroads in the area, and none of them went near Shelby. The
iron works had been in operation since before the Revolution,
using charcoal. The works were extensive, but required coal to
operate at full capacity. The same company owned coal fields in
the Greensboro area of North Carolina, so a connection between
the two was likely, but the details are not known. |
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Texas |
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Houston, Trinity & Tyler Railroad
This road was chartered in 1860 to build from Houston to Tyler,
almost due north. The road would have been about 200 miles long
and would have drained northeastern Texas produce to Houston and
Galveston, saving the sometimes difficult trips down the Red
River and the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Until the
post-war arrival of the gas and oil industries in the Houston
area, northeast Texas was as populated and prosperous and the
Gulf coast area, so this was intended to be a major road. By
June, 1861, at least two miles had been graded and a load of
rails had arrived. The company had acquired a few freight cars
which they sold, along with the rails, to lay the Galveston &
Houston Junction Railroad. |
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