Gainesville Midland Railway The Gainesville Midland, chartered in 1904, purchased most of the property of the Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern Railroad under a foreclosure sale the same year. It acquired a two-pronged, narrow-gauge line connecting Gainesville, Jefferson, and Monroe. In 1906, the GM constructed a extension south from Jefferson to a connection with the Seaboard Air Line two miles west of Athens at Fowler Junction. From there, GM trains continued to Athens through a trackage rights agreement with SAL. The Athens extension was built at standard gauge but the rest of the line was still a narrow-gauge operation. The tracks from Jefferson to Gainesville were the first to be converted, in 1908. It was not until 1913 that the Monroe branch's tracks were widened. In 1947-48 the GM abandoned the Monroe branch (Belmont to Monroe). Among the communities losing rail service were Braselton, Hoschton, and Bethlehem. In 1959, GM’s 40-mile line from Gainesville to Athens was sold to Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Suggested Reading: Douglas van Veelen. The Gainesville Midland and her Sister Short Lines. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2006.  1906 timetable (25K) 1929 timetable (192K) 1931 map of Monroe branch (65K) 1955 map (51K) GM No. 209 on display in downtown Gainesville (This photo and above). Online movie footage of GM No. 208 shot in 1956 by Robert M. Soule, Jr. in and around Athens, Georgia. Converted to Google video format by Robert M. Soule, III.   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home