GS&F Members:

I need your assistance in the following question submitted to me via regular mail. He wants to know if the Georgia Southern Sytem marked on a pass entitled the passenger to ride either the GS&F RR or the Macon and Birmingham. He said that he found a 1893 Georgia Southern System Pass and it does not indicate either railroad. Since the GS&F and the M&B both existed as "railroads" before the reorganization in 1895 under the Southern Railway, I would surmise in replying an affirmative answer. What do you all think? I have never seen nor heard of a GS&F and M&B Pass before 1895 or 1898 respectively. This is a very good question.

-- Mark S. Mosely (MOSEGSF@aol.com), January 31, 2002

Answers

Mark, I have a GS&R pass for 1890 that covers only the GS&F proper. I also have in my collection an 1891 pass that says "Georgia Southern System", along with the GS&F's "Suwanee River Route" logo. The latter pass, on the back, has the legend, "Good over the following Roads: Macon & Birmingham Railroad, Georgia Southern & Florida Railroad, Macon & Atlantic Railway." I suspect the pass your friend has noted at one time that it was good over these roads. The lettering may have been pulled off with the backing paper if the pass was glued into an album and later removed. This does frequently happen. Hope this helps.

Bob Hanson

-- Robert H. Hanson (RHanson669@aol.com), February 07, 2002.