Gainesville Midland

The Gainesville Midland Railway was incorporated in Georgia as a successor of the narrow gauge Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern Railroad, which completed tracks connecting between Gainesville, Social Circle, Winder and Jefferson in Northeast Georgia. The Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern was hardly a profitable line. But after acquiring the line, the Gainesville Midland converted the tracks to standard gauge and completed a link to Athens, Georgia. The Gainesville Midland struggled for much of its history, and in 1959, the Gainesville Midland sold its Athens-Gainesville branch to Seaboard Air Line. The remnants of the Gainesville Midland can still be found throughout Northeast Georgia. Three “decapods” — 2-10-0s — survive: one on display in Winder, another on display in Gainesville and one at the Southeastern Railroad Museum in Duluth. A smaller 2-8-0 locomotive — No. 116 (see in the picture above) — is displayed in Jefferson.