History

The Middle Tennessee city of Clarksville once had a fairly robust network of streetcars. The system ran for more than four decades before it ultimately ceased operations during the 1920s.

The Western & Atlantic Railroad operated some of the earliest locomotives in Georgia and the Southeast. The road, built and owned by the state of Georgia, acquired 10 locomotives during the 1840s.

Even though the Louisville & Nashville Railroad controlled the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, which in turn leased the Western & Atlantic Railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee, the L&N wanted its own line into Atlanta.