Bay Line Railroad

Bay Line Railroad

Reporting mark	BAYL
Locale	Florida Panhandle and southeastern Alabama
Dates of operation	1994–
Predecessor	Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length	103 miles (166 km)
Headquarters	Panama City, Florida
Website	Official website

The Bay Line Railroad (reporting mark BAYL) is one of several short line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates between Panama City, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via trackage rights on CSX's Dothan Subdivision between Dothan and Grimes. The line interchanges with CSX's P&A Subdivision at Cottondale, Florida, and their Dothan Subdivision at the trackage rights section near Dothan, Alabama. It also interchanges with the Chattahoochee Bay Railroad in Dothan.

A wide variety of commodities are carried, including aggregates, brick, cement, chemicals, coal, food and feed products, forest products, metallic ores and minerals, steel, and scrap.^[1]

History

The company's main line between Panama City and Dothan was constructed in 1906–1908 by the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad (ASAB).^[2] The Abbeville branch was constructed in 1887–1893 by the Alabama Midland Railway and came under the control of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902.^[3] CSX Transportation, eventual successor to the ACL, sold the line to the Abbeville–Grimes Railway Company (AG) in 1989.^[4] This company was merged with the Bay Line Railroad on June 26, 1996.^[5]

The Stone Container Corporation had owned the ASAB since 1987.^[6] Effective January 1, 1994, it sold the assets of the railroad to Rail Management Corporation, which created the new Bay Line Railroad company to operate it.^[7] Genesee & Wyoming acquired all the assets of Rail Management on June 1, 2005, including the Bay Line Railroad.^[8]

Notes

1. "Bay Line Railroad". Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
2. Moody's 1921, p. 352
3. Owens 1921, p. 71
4. Lewis 1991, p. 8
5. "STB Finance Docket No. 19936". 21 June 1996. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
6. Smiley 1989
7. Lewis 1996, pp. 40–41
8. "Genesse & Wyoming to Acquire Assets of Rail Management Corporation". Retrieved 26 November 2010.

References

• Lewis, Edward A. (1991). American Shortline Railway Guide (4th ed.). Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-109-0. OCLC 25150373.
• Lewis, Edward A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5th ed.). Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-290-9. OCLC 35286187.
• Moody's Investor Service (1921). Moody's Manual of Investments, American and Foreign: Transportation.
• Owen, Thomas M. (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography 1. S.J. Clarke Publishing Company.
• Smiley, Tom (1989). "Modeling the Bay Line Railroad". Prototype Modeler (January/February): 20–27.

External links

• Official website