Southern Railway

This authoritative account traces the Southern Railway’s 88-year tenure as the transportation force in the South, in the process paying tribute to the railroad’s profitable operations and well-maintained infrastructure and equipment, and presenting an important chapter in the region’s history.

            Tom Murray first untangles a complex prehistory that involved some 150 predecessor railroads, then examines nearly nine decades of Southern freight and passenger service—including its profitable operations during the grim 1970s—right up to its 1982 merger with Norfolk and Western. Rare archival photography captures the railway’s motive power and rolling stock against the region’s cityscapes and scenic countryside, while system maps and period ads round out a fitting tribute sure to appeal to those who remember the Southern, and those who arrived too late to know the railroad firsthand.

This authoritative account traces the Southern Railway’s 88-year tenure as the transportation force in the South, in the process paying tribute to the railroad’s profitable operations and well-maintained infrastructure and equipment, and presenting an important chapter in the region’s history.

Tom Murray first untangles a complex prehistory that involved some 150 predecessor railroads, then examines nearly nine decades of Southern freight and passenger service—including its profitable operations during the grim 1970s—right up to its 1982 merger with Norfolk and Western. Rare archival photography captures the railway’s motive power and rolling stock against the region’s cityscapes and scenic countryside, while system maps and period ads round out a fitting tribute sure to appeal to those who remember the Southern, and those who arrived too late to know the railroad firsthand.

Tom Murray has worked in the rail industry since 1970. Following graduation from New York University, he held positions with the Boston & Maine, Soo Line, CSX, and Southern Pacific. The publisher of Rail Stock Watch, Murray is also a columnist for TRAINS magazine, as well as the author of four previous MBI Railroad Color Histories: Canadian National Railway, The Milwaukee Road, Canadian Pacific Railway, and Illinois Central Railroad. He lives in Santa Maria, California.