The Central of Georgia Heritage Locomotive-A Legacy Remembered

The Central of Georgia Heritage Locomotive-A Legacy Remembered
    By Andy Fletcher

    As the early twentieth century rolled around, America was progressing.  Much of the South’s industry was based on its resources.
    The textile industry thrived due to cotton.  Food processing developed due to the South’s rich agriculture.  Timber and paper industries developed around the South’s pine forests.  The steel industry continued to thrive, and with it, so did shipbuilding on the coast.
    With this emergence of industry and abundance of raw material, so grew the South’s railroad network.  The Central of Georgia Railway emerged as a consolidation of many smaller roads in order to help link the South’s industries, resources and city centers. 
    Coal from the Appalachians fueled this growth from connections such as Chattanooga and Athens.  Steel forged in Birmingham built Atlanta, the centerpiece of the South.  Much of the South’s agricultural products made their way to market by train through city centers such as Albany and Montgomery.  With it’s can-do attitude and direct connections to America’s rail network, so developed the slogan “The Right Way” for The Central of Georgia. 
    The Central of Georgia was a beautiful railroad decked in blue and gray.  Its on-time performance was described by naming its flagship trains after famous racehorses “Nancy Hanks” and “Man O’ War.”  The resort of Savannah flourished thanks to “The Right Way” and “The Nancy Hanks.”
    As we entered the 1960’s, the landscape of America was changing.  Trucking and the interstate highway system made times hard for the railroad.  The world moved faster.  The regulator clock still ticked in the station, but the world was moving on.
    Many railroad companies found themselves consolidating.  Railroads needed to be shortened.  Fat needed to be cut from the system for the rails to compete.  Railroads joined forces for their routes to flow more smoothly.
    The Central of Georgia Railway was purchased by the Southern Railway in 1963.  The Southern Railway joined with Roanoke’s Norfolk & Western in 1982.  Norfolk Southern Railway was formed. 
    This spring, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Norfolk Southern painted a brand new locomotive in dress inspired by the Central of Georgia.  This livery celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of Norfolk Southern’s creation.
    The locomotive painted exceeds today’s clean air emission standards.  It has the power of three locomotives of its Central of Georgia predecessors.  Yet, in its lines, one sees the Central of Georgia Railway.
    One sees the Nancy Hanks passenger train it was fashioned after.  One retraces the locomotive’s footsteps along the Central of Georgia across the South where this locomotive’s advanced technology gains its footing.
    As you hear the lonesome whistle blow down the track, whether you are in Georgia Alabama or Tennessee, keep an eye out for this beautifully painted locomotive.  Side by side it works with its regularly painted counterparts.  A tribute to the past, it rolls down the track, giving the South a chance to see a peek at railroading’s past.  This locomotive reflects upon the way railroading once was.
    In a time where the next appointment dictates our day, this brightly painted locomotive takes us back to a simpler time, a time when the lull of the rocking chair kept the pace of the evening.
    It is not always that we are reminded of the past, of the shoulders that today stands on.  We do not always take the time to remember the people and institutions that came before.
    It is in the sleek lines of the Central of Georgia Heritage locomotive that we see the legacy of the freight agents who punched waybills.  We see the farmer who drove to Albany anticipating his new tractor. 
    We see the crews who maintained the right of way safely to Atlanta, and passed the torch on to the generations of today’s railroaders.  We see a South that grew strong with the Central of Georgia Railway.
    Most of all, we see a railroad that did not forget its roots.  Roots in communities, roots in its people, roots in the Southern landscape.  A railroad that is proud of where it came from and is proud of where it is going.