Railroad combination

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My great grandfather, Jesse Fairy Council, was the superintendent of the Atlantic Coastline Railroad in Central Florida circa 1900-1930. HE was orginally from Charleston, South Carolina. He had 2 brothers who were also employed by the Railroad. One in Savannah, Georgia and one in Sherman, Texas. Since they all began their careers in South Carolina, did the Atlantic Coastline Railroad merge with another Railroad, or which train lines also ran through Texas. Would this also be a part the the Atlantic? Thanks if anyone can shed some light on this for me. Sincerely, Jean Faulk

-- Jean Faulk (crckrsuze@aol.com), April 08, 2000

Answers

The Atlantic Coast Line R.R. had no rail lines in Texas, and probably never had any desire to be there. The most westerly point on the ACL was Montgomery, Ala. And, there were no ACL Traffic Representatives in Texas, either, the closest being Memphis and New Orleans. Thus, any relative who worked for "The" railroad did not do so in the empoyment of the ACL. Finding your relative in Sherman, Texas, will be fun as in 1924 there were six railroad companies there: Katy, Cotton Belt, Frisco, Texas & New Orleans(SP), Texas & Pacific and Texas Electric. Your great-grandfather is listed in the ACL Official Directory as shown in a 1924 passenger timetable as J. F. Council, a Superintendent in the ACL's Third Division, and who shared an office with another Superintendent in Lakeland, Florida. It should be repeated here, that railroad historical societies do not have any employee records of any kind. For this type of information, you should contact the Railroad Retirement Board(U.S.Government) and, if the employee was a union member, the appropriate union headquarters. These are the organizations most likely to have railroad employment records.

-- Tom Underwood (tlunder@attglobal.net), April 09, 2000.

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