Alabama Great Southern

Company History: The AGS was established by British financier Emile Erlanger in 1877 to re-organize the Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad. AGS ran from Chattanooga, Tennessee southwest to Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, Alabama and on to Meridian, Mississippi, a total length of 292 miles. It became the center link in Erlanger’s “Queen & Crescent Route” network linking Cincinnati and New Orleans. In 1890, two predecessors of Southern Railway purchased control of the AGS. By the First World War, AGS equipment was receiving SOUTHERN lettering and logos and AGS sub-lettering. This practice continued into the diesel age (look for AGS letters below the road number on the cab.) AGS diesels are allowed to roam the greater Southern and subsequent Norfolk Southern systems. In 1969, Southern bought all outstanding shares in AGS and fellow Southern holding New Orleans & Northeastern (New Orleans to Meridian) was merged into AGS. In 1993, more than a decade after the merger of parent Southern and Norfolk & Western, AGS acquired Chattanooga Terminal Railway, Louisiana Southern and New Orleans Terminal Company (all fellow paper railroads under the Norfolk Southern flag.)

Successor/Parent History: The Southern Railway (reporting mark SOU) (also known as Southern Railway Company) was a US class 1 railroad that was based in the Southern United States. It was the product of nearly 150 predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894.

At the end of 1970 Southern operated 6,026 miles (9,698 km) of railroad, not including its Class I subsidiaries AGS (528 miles or 850 km) CofG (1729 miles) S&A (167 miles) CNOTP (415 miles) GS&F (454 miles) and twelve Class II subsidiaries. That year Southern itself reported 26111 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 110 million passenger-miles; AGS reported 3854 and 11, CofG 3595 and 17, S&A 140 and 0, CNO&TP 4906 and 0.3, and GS&F 1431 and 0.3

The railroad joined forces with the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in 1982 to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation. The Norfolk Southern Corporation was created in response to the creation of the CSX Corporation (its rail system was later transformed to CSX Transportation in 1986). The Southern Railway was renamed Norfolk Southern Railway in 1990 and continued under that name ever since. Seven years later in 1997 the railroad absorbed the Norfolk and Western Railway, ending the Norfolk and Western's existence as an independent railroad.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.