Georgia Pacific Railway
The Georgia Pacific Railway was chartered on December 31, 1881, consolidating the Georgia Western Railroad and the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company of Alabama.
The Georgia Western Railroad was chartered by the Georgia Legislature in 1854, incorporated by Richard Peters, Lemuel Grant, and other prominent Atlantans. Its mission was to connect Atlanta via Villa Rica or Carrollton with destinations to the southwest in the direction of Jacksonville or Tuscaloosa.[1]
After consolidation, construction between 1882 and 1889, allowed the Georgia Pacific to connect Atlanta, Georgia, and Greenville, Mississippi.[2] Regular service to Atlanta began May 15, 1882, and the road to Birmingham, Alabama, was completed in November 1883.
The company was the predecessor of the Southern Railway, which operated it after 1894.[2]