terminus” for the proposed junction point of the Georgia Road and the state- funded Western & Atlantic. Within two years, it was changed at the suggestion of Thomson and became the more elegant-sounding “Atlanta.” Atlanta thus became the first major city laid out because of rail connections rather than navigable watercourses and ports. When Thomson brought the Georgia Railroad to completion, the main totaled 171 miles, making it the longest operating railroad in the entire world at that time; that mileage did not count the Athens Branch. Thomson, Ga., is named in his honor and stands, appropriately enough, on the mainline. For those who may not recognize Thomson’s name, he


OPPOSITE: The stately wooden depot in Winterville, Ga., was boarded up by the time former railfan & railroad editor Jim Boyd made his visit to chase the Athens Mixed in June 1969. A month later, the Athens service was replaced by a caboose offering passenger accommodations. TOP: Coach No. 73 brings up the markers of the Macon Mixed, with a consist of boxcars and pulpwood racks separating the passengers from the Geeps as the train rolls through the countryside between Macon and Milledgeville in January 1968. A caboose also would replace the coach in Macon service in July 1969. ABOVE: The Athens Mixed takes the siding for a meet with an eastbound hotshot freight at Crawfordville, Ga., in January 1968. Lead EMD GP40 No. 752 was built just a year previous, providing a stark contrast to the six-axle heavyweight coach dating from the 1920s.


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