James_Sept-Oct_2025_web - Flipbook - Page 47
W
hen people think of Atlanta-based companies, Coca-Cola, Home Depot,
UPS, Delta and often others come to mind. But perhaps none of Atlanta’s
great companies embodies the history of the city quite like Norfolk Southern Railway. From the earliest days to the hectic logistics of modern capitalism, the company and its predecessors helped to build Atlanta from a railroad
town without a railroad to the behemoth metropolis of today.
In 1836, the Georgia legislature— then meeting in Milledgeville— voted to build the Western
& Atlantic Railroad. The original
route would run from Chattanooga
to some central spot in Georgia,
with a plan to eventually link to the
railroad coming from Augusta and
Savannah, via Macon. An engineer
was chosen to survey the possible
routes, tracing ridges all along the
various foothills of the Appalachian
Mountains. Eventually, this engineer landed at the intersection of
what would eventually become Forsyth and Magnolia Streets. In 1837,
he drove a stake into the ground
there and within a couple years,
a store was built and settlement
started— even though actual train
arrivals were still a few years away.
By 1847, rail lines were arriving
from four different directions, and
the settlement quickly became the
railroad hub for the entire South.
That settlement was naturally first
known as Terminus, changed to
Marthasville (after the then-governor’s daughter) and by 1845, at
the urging of the chief engineer for
the Georgia Railroad, the town was
renamed Atlanta.
The railroad really founded Atlanta, and it has been a part of the
fabric of the capital city ever since.
During the Civil War, supplies for
the Confederate Army, troops and
anything else critical for the war
effort came through Atlanta. The
Great Locomotive Chase during the
Civil War— a Union Army saboteur
effort— ran along that same line to
Chattanooga. Those Union soldiers
were the first to be awarded the
newly-created Medal of Honor for
their actions. Atlanta’s status as a
rail hub is also what led Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864
to order every military and government building in the city burned
and rail lines twisted into knots.
Soon after the war, the rail lines
were re-laid, and Atlanta was again
a booming rail town. By 1900, nine
out of ten Southerners lived in a
county with a railroad, with homes
and businesses clustered tightly
around depots and rail corridors.
For many decades, there were
hundreds of different rail companies connecting to one another
across the country in a scattershot
as each state and city aimed to
distinguish itself as a rail stop.
Those that declined got left behind.
Hundreds of mergers later, the Norfolk Southern Railway was formed
in 1982 with the consolidation of
Norfolk and Western Railway and
Southern Railway. Headquartered
in Atlanta, Norfolk Southern now
operates nearly 20,000 route miles
in 22 eastern states, as well as
much of Canada.
Amazing Legacy & Transformation
The railroad is building on its
legacy as one of America’s historic
transportation companies by modernizing infrastructure, expanding
freight rail capabilities and deploying next-generation technologies
to enhance safety, service and
sustainability. In Georgia alone, the
company supported more than 90
industrial development projects
over the past five years, generating
$1.9 billion in investment and creating over 2,100 jobs.
These efforts are part of a
broader transformation— one that
positions Norfolk Southern to help
create America’s first transcontinental railroad through its proposed
merger with Union Pacific. The new
network would span more than
50,000 miles across 43 states, offering single-line service, increased
competition, faster transit times,
improved customer experience, and
expanded economic opportunities.
Obviously, Georgia stands to
benefit significantly from the proposed merger of these two iconic
railroads.
“We are confident that the power of Norfolk Southern’s franchise,
diversified solutions, high-quality
customers and partners, as well as
skilled employees, will contribute
meaningfully to America’s first
S E PT E M B E R /O C TO BER 2025
47
