The early operations of the Western & Atlantic Railroad

Was it really ‘too insignificant a factor in the matter of transportation to be considered?’

While the first train operated over a portion of the Western & Atlantic Railroad on December 24, 1842, 20 miles of the line did not go into regular operation until September 15, 1845, the same day the Georgia Railroad completed its line between Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia.

“The completion of the first railroad constituted the first genuine epoch in the history of Atlanta, although the scattered collection of houses here at that time bore the name Marthasville,” The Atlanta Journal recalled in 1883. “Before that date the line known as the Western and Atlantic railroad had been slowly pushing its way along for some time.”