Birmingham, Columbus and St. Andrews Railroad

{{short description|Defunct railroad in Florida}}

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

The Birmingham, Columbus and St. Andrews Railroad was a railroad running from Chipley, Florida to Southport, Florida. The railroad was chartered in 1903 and completed construction in 1912. The railroad was reorganized as the Alabama and Western Florida Railroad in 1926 and ceased operations in 1939.

The Birmingham, Columbus and St. Andrews Railroad was chartered in Alabama in 1903, and registered in Florida the same year. Construction started in Chipley that year, initially using a few miles of right-of-way previously graded for the Dothan, Hartford and Florida Railroad.{{efn|The Dothan, Hartford and Florida Railroad was proposed in 1901 to run from Dothan, Alabama to St. Joseph, Florida, a distance of approximately {{convert|102|miles}}.{{Cite news|date=October 31, 1901|title=Untitled|work=The Pine Belt News|url=https://img.newspapers.com/clip/50755734/the-pine-belt-news/|access-date=August 11, 2020}}}} Approximately {{convert|15.75|miles}} of track from Chipley to Macon, Florida were completed by 1908. The railroad was placed in receivership that year, and was still under receivership in 1927. Another {{convert|3.25|miles}} of track were laid in late 1911 and early 1912, extending from Macon to Tiller, Florida,{{efn|Tiller is currently used as a name for a swamp, a cemetery, and a pond, all near Greenhead, Florida, which later sources name as the location of the connection between the Birmingham, Columbus and Florida Railroad and the track owned by the Sales-Davis Company.}} where a connection was made to a track owned by the Sales-Davis Company, a lumber company. The Birmingham, Columbus and Florida railroad leased trackage rights over the almost {{convert|19|miles}} of the Sales-Davis Company railroad extending from Tiller to Southport. The only connection to another railroad was to the Louisville and Nashville at Chipley. Freight traffic on the railroad consisted primarily of lumber from the Sales-Davis mill in Southport.{{cite book|author=United States. Interstate Commerce Commission|title=Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MxDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA151|year=1927|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=151–162}}

The assets of the Birmingham, Columbus and St. Andrews Railroad were sold in 1926 and incorporated in the Alabama and Western Florida Railroad. Passenger and freight traffic declined in the 1930s. The railroad was placed under receivership in 1936. Passenger carriage was stopped in 1938. The railroad ceased operations in 1939.{{cite book|author=United States. Interstate Commerce Commission|title=Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zisXAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA264|year=1940|publisher=L.K. Strouse|pages=264–}}