route
The Bay Line
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay Railway
Built by a railroad mogul with the dream of connecting Atlanta to the booming Gulf Coast ports, the Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay Railway never made it north to its namesake city. It did, however, become a connecting passenger outlet to the beaches in the heyday of rail travels, and surviving Bay Line Railroad still provides freight service from the ports to points northward.
It was the early 1900s, and U.S. ports were booming. A newly developed port in Panama City, Florida, was expected to join the ranks of other popular U.S. southern ports such as New Orleans. A.B. Steele was a renowned lumberman who owned one of Atlanta’s most successful lumber companies.
Driven by his
entrepreneurial spirit, Steele devised a plan to link the Panama City port to Atlanta, one of the South’s most influential cities, via rail. A railroad, he believed, could also meet the demand for exported timber and forest products from the area. Steele was even able to convince other area business owners of the railroad’s potential and succeeded in securing funding to finish the line from Asa Candler, founder of Coca-Cola.
However, the port never became as instrumental as many hoped, so the railroad generated a mediocre business almost solely from carrying timber-based freight. Passenger service commenced in June 1908, and within a few years, the railroad dispatched four passenger trains per day.
The current Bay Line Railroad operates between Panama City, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via CSX Transportation trackage rights north of Dothan. A line also connects Dothan eastward to Hilton, Georgia. The railroad interchanges with CSX Transportation in Dothan and at the former Louisville & Nashville crossing at Cottondale, Florida; interchange is also made with G&W property Hilton & Albany Railroad at Hilton, Ga. The company's main line between Panama City and Dothan was completed in 1908 by the Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay Railroad (ASAB), with a vision of freight service all the way to Atlanta. That goal was never achieved, but the shortline railroad did provide steady freight traffic from the Panama City ports and, for a time, connecting passenger service from regional railroads to the Gulf beaches.
The Stone Container Corporation purchased the Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay in 1987. Then in 1994 Stone sold the assets of the railroad to Rail Management Corporation, which created the new Bay Line Railroad company to operate the line. Genesee & Wyoming shortline operator acquired all the assets of Rail Management in 2005, including the Bay Line. Today the line is 154 miles long and handles aggregates, chemicals, coal, food and feed products, forest products, ores and minerals, steel, and scrap. Shops remain at Panama City, Florida.
1994 Official Guide ad / collection
BAYL route map / web
Panama City, Fl / Jan 1979 / collection
BAYL scrapbook / JCH
Steam Locomotives
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay #142
Alco Richmond 4-6-2 (1920) / Panama City, Fl / Apr 1948 / collection
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay #403
Alco Schenectady 2-8-2 (1915) / Port Saint Joe, Fl / Apr 1947 / collection
Diesel Motive Power
The Short Line 104 / Aug 1990 / collection
First Generation
Bay Line #500
Panama City, Fl / Jan 1979 / collection
Bay Line #500
to Bay Line #500, 1976
to South Central Florida #9010
Bay Line #501
Panama City, Fl / Jun 1983 / collection
Bay Line #501
to South Central Florida #9011
to Brandywine Valley #9011
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1981 / collection
Panama City , Fl / Aug 1975 / collection
Bay Line #511
Panama City, Fl / Jun 1983 / collection
Bay Line #511
wrecked 1975, rebuilt as Bay Line #511
to South Central Florida #9012
to Brandywine Valley #9012
Panama City, Fl / May 1985 / collection
Bay Line #913
Panama City, Fl / Aug 1983 / collection
Bay Line #913
to Tennessee Valley Railway Museum
Hartford & Slocumb #913
Chattanooga, Tn / Nov 1999 / JCH
Jun 2019 / RWH
East Chattanooga, Tn / Jun 2019 / RWH
East Chattanooga, Tn / Jun 2019 / RWH
East Chattanooga, Tn / Jun 2019 / RWH
See also our complete Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum scrapbook in Preservation
Alco demonstrator #DL600
Panama City, Fl / circa 1954 / collection
Alco demonstrator #DL600
later to Santa Fe #600
Panama City, Fl / collection
Second Generation
Bay Line #500
Little Rock, Ar / May 2016 / Jay Epstein
Bay Line #500
to Illinois Central Gulf #9532
to Bay Line #500, 1990
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #501
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #501
to Illinois Central Gulf #9526
to Paducah & Louisville #2000
to Bay Line #501, 1990
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #502
Panama City , Fl / Sep 1997 / Fred Goff
Bay Line #502
to Conrail #7760
to Gulf & Mississippi #7760
to Bay Line #502, 1988
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #504
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #504
to Conrail #7790
to Gulf & Mississippi #7790
to Bay Line #504, 1988
Jul 1990 / RWH
RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #506
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #506
to Conrail #7811
to Gulf & Mississippi #7811
to Bay Line #506, 1988
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #507
Panama City, FL / Dec 1976 / collection
Bay Line #507
traded to VMV for 2nd #507 (GP38), 1990
Panama City, Fl / May 1985 / collection
Bay Line #509
Dothan, Al / Feb 2010 / Craig Cook
Bay Line #509
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #510
Dothan, Al / Jul 1978 / collection
Bay Line #510
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #511
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line #511
to Conrail #7749
to Bay Line #511, 1990
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay #506
Panama City, Fl / May 1985 / collection
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay #506
to Helm Leasing Company #506
Panama City, Fl / Aug 1983 / collection
Rolling Stock
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay #1
collection
Bay Line #11
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jun 1983 / collection
Bay Line #12
Panama City, Fl / Jun 1983 / collection
Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay #1194
diesel oil tanker / Cottondale, Fl / May 1989 / RWH
"Junk Yard Dawg"
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Locations
Bay Line shops overhead / Google Maps
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Bay Line shops
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Click to see the Bay Line shop area plotted on a Google Maps page
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Cottondale, Fl / May 1989 / JCH
Bay Line mainline / Cottondale, Fl / May 1989 / JCH
CSX mainline / Cottondale, Fl / May 1989 / JCH
Click to see the Cottondale diamond plotted on a Google Maps page
Southbound Runby
Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time. In the fall of 1991, we made one more of many family trips along Interstate 10 from our home in Louisiana across the Panhandle to visit my sister in Jacksonville, Florida. Dad decided to get off the interstate at Cottondale to check on the Bay Line, just in case. No sooner had we parked the family sedan and I walked over to a field near the tracks than I heard the unmistakable blast of a Nathan 3-chime. Out of nowhere appeared Bay Line #510, hauling the mail with a southbound local in tow -- white "extra" flags flapping in the wind. We could not have planned it better if we tried.
Cottondale, Fl / Nov 1991 / JCH
Cottondale, Fl / Nov 1991 / JCH
BAYL scrapbook page / JCH
Publications
May 1950 timetable / collection
May 1950 brochure / collection
1965 Official Guide ad / collection
1972 Official Guide ad / collection
The Short Line 78 / May 1986 / collection
1994 Official Guide map / collection
Scrapbook
all pages from Bay Line scrapbook / JCH
Lagniappe
Still Some Miles to Go
Cottondale, Fl / Nov 1991 / RWH
Tight Spaces
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Extra 510 South - Highball!
Cottondale, Fl / Nov 1991 / RWH
Summer Spartan Soldiers
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Start Me Up, I'll Never Stop
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Those Unmistakable Lines
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City in the Sun
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / JCH
The Bay Line was my first real teenage exercise in taking thoughtful roster shots. It was a hot summer day when we visited the Panama City shops, and I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that we could sign a waiver in the office and subsequently crawl all over the property without hinderance. Lucky for me, most the Geeps were in the stable that day; the railroad was quiet. That give us plenty of time to look inside the impressive shop building and study all the idled 38s outside. Nothing beats the all-business Spartan cab of a 38, and the Bay Line had plenty of them around in the 1990s. My dad appreciated the fact that several of the pre Dash-2 movers could trace their roots all the way back to his beloved Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. Me, I was busy snapping up roster shots and capturing all the numbers. The sharp green and yellow paint schemes impressed me even as a teenager, and you have to like a shortline pike that keeps some cabooses active on the property. It was a great visit. And thanks to the Bay Line stable of General Purpose movers, I fell in love with the diesel locomotive wedge shot and science of collecting roster photos.
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / RWH
Panama City, Fl / Jul 1990 / JCH
Cottondale, Fl / May 1989 / JCH
RWH
BAYL route map / JCH
Links / Sources
- Wikipedia article for Bay Line Railroad
- Genesee & Wyoming corporate Bay Line Railroad page
- Diesel Shop roster for Bay Line Railroad
- Diesel Shop all-time roster for Atlanta & Saint Andrews Bay
- Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide - Fifth Edition (Kalmbach, 1996) 40-41
- Charles W. McDonald, Diesel Locomotive Rosters - Third Edition (Kalmbach, 1992) 24