Macon and Western Railroad

The Macon & Western Railroad was originally chartered as the Monroe Railroad and Banking Company in December, 1833. It was not until 1838 that it opened for business with a line from Macon, Georgia to Forsyth. It was extended to Griffin in 1842. An economic depression halted building, but when the railroad started building again, it managed only another 11.25 miles towards Atlanta for a total of 81 miles before falling into bankruptcy.^[1]

It was bought in foreclosure and the name was changed to the Macon and Western Railroad in 1845.^[2] This new railroad completed the line into Atlanta in 1846 by adding 21 more miles for a grand total of 102 miles.^[3] This railroad was purchased by the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia in 1872.

The stops available to riders in 1867 were:

Distances of Depots from Atlanta

#	Name	Miles	Notes
1	East Point, Georgia	7
2	Rough & Ready, Georgia	13
3	Forest Park, Georgia	15
4	Morrow's Station, Georgia	19	Old Name Morrow, Georgia
5	Jonesborough, Georgia	23	Shortened to Jonesboro
6	Lovejoy Station, Georgia	29	Old Name. Now just Lovejoy, Georgia
7	Bear Creek, Georgia	34	Now called Hampton, Georgia
8	Fayette, Georgia	38	Now called Sunny Side
9	Griffin, Georgia	44
10	Thornton, Georgia	50	Now called Orchard Hill
11	Milner, Georgia	56
12	Barnesville, Georgia	62
13	Goggins, Georgia	67
14	Collins, Georgia	72
15	Forsyth, Georgia	78
16	Smarr, Georgia	83
17	Crawford, Georgia	89
18	Howard, Georgia	96
19	Macon, Georgia	103

Trains departed from Atlanta at 7:15AM and 8:15PM and arrived there at 2:00PM and 4:35PM.

References

1. ^ Georgia's Railroad History and Heritage
2. ^ Georgia's Railroad History and Heritage
3. ^ Preliminary report on the Eighth Census 1860 by United States Census Bureau (Washington DC: 1862), page 222 [1]