Appalachicola Northern Railroad

Known for decades among Gulf Coast railfans as the "Port St. Joe Route," the Apalachicola Northern Railroad Company operated 97 miles of shortline trackage in the central region of the Florida panhandle. First incorporated in 1903, from 1940 to 1996 the line was owned by the Port St. Joe Paper Company. After the paper mill closed -- the shortline's largest customer -- assets of the line were sold to Rail Management Corporation, who in 2005 again sold the line to the Genesee & Wyoming shortline system. Currently the line operates as the AN Railway and runs from Port St Joe on the coast northward 119 miles through Sumatra and Telogia to a connection with CSX Transportation at Chattahoochee, Florida. In terms of diesel era motive power, the Apalachicola Northern held the distinction of being one of only two North American railroads to purchase EMD's rare GP15T -- a turbocharged light road switcher intended to replace first-generation Geeps.