Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast 4-6-0 No. 120, ca. 1940. Click to enlarge.
(Photographer unknown, via W. Lenheim Collection)
ATLANTA, BIRMINGHAM AND COAST RAILROAD
The Atlanta, Birmingham and Coast Railroad was organized in 1926 to replace the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway. The AB&C was controlled by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which owned a majority of the stock. In 1944 it reported 763 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 33 million passenger-miles; at the end of that year it operated 639 miles of road and 836 miles of track.
The Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad's Byromville, Georgia station in 1938. Click to enlarge.
(John Vachon, Library of Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Passenger services
The AB&C had day and night services on its transit to Atlanta, starting at Terminal Station, Cordele and Waycross division. A branch from that division, breaking off at Fitzgerald, carried sleeping cars from Atlanta to Thomasville. It had an overnight night train from Birmingham, Alabama (the ABC's own Eleventh Street station) continued to Manchester, Georgia, Fitzgerald, Thomasville, Waycross and Brunswick. Another division carried trains from Atlanta to Brunswick.
Acquisition
In 1946 the AB&C was bought by the ACL and then became the latter company's Western Division.
AB& C 2-8-2 No. 214. Click to enlarge. (Unknown photographer, W. Lenheim Collection)
AB&C Route Map, 1940. Click to enlarge.
(Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast Railroad, Public domain.)
The AB&C's northbound Dixie Flagler, train No. 12, backs into Atlanta's Union Station led by streamlined 4-6-2 Pacific No. 79 in 1941. Click to enlarge. (American Express 1976, Public domain, cropped)
Overview
Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Reporting mark: AB&C
Locale: Alabama, Georgia
Dates of operation: 1887–1945
Successor: Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Technical
Track gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length: 640 miles (1,030 km)