Rome & Decatur Railroad The Rome and Decatur Railroad Company was organized in 1886 and quickly began building a line from Rome towards Decatur, Alabama, some 135 miles to the west. By early 1887 the section from Rome to Cedar Bluffs was completed, and the section from Cedar Bluffs to Attalla, near Gadsden, was finished in July, 1888. The railroad had entered receivership the previous summer, however, and was scheduled to be sold under foreclosure. It was purchased by the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway in 1890, which in turn was consolidated into the Southern Railway in 1895. In 1948, the line was abandoned from Fairbanks to a point in Alabama. In 1953, it was reopened between Fairbanks and Coosa (perhaps to serve Georgia Power Company’s electric generating plant or the nearby paper mill on the Coosa River.) Five miles of tracks running west from Rome to Coosa had been constructed in 1873 by the Memphis Branch Railroad. Poors 1881 Manual reported that the MBRR was sold on August 14, 1877 to William Phillips, President of the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad. It was described as a narrow-gauge line with 5 miles of track laid between Rome and a point west and 17 miles graded from Rome westward. The railroad’s principal offices were in Rome. According to Hilton, Phillips expressed his intention to take up the rails for use on his M&NG line. Other sources indicate that the road was purchased in 1877 by the Rome Railroad, which abandoned it in 1885. 1890 map (44K)   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home