Grits and Gravy
A
History of the Gainesville & Gulf Railway Company
By Russell Tedder
Images from the
collection of Don Hensley
All
true Southerners understand that the following will be tempting fare. In the process of coming to grips with all
the affiliated companies that should be included in the GS&F RR Historical
Society, an obscure road that should at least be mentioned in passing is the
Gainesville and Gulf Railway Company, often humorously called “Grits and
Gravy.”
The
earliest predecessor of the Gainesville and Gulf was the Gainesville, Rocky
Point and Micanopy Railway which was chartered in 1884. However, it was not until ten years later
that the first construction was completed.
The 16-mile segment between Gainesville, Fla., and Micanopy, Fla., was
opened for service in 1894. The company
was authorized to issue $300,000 of capital stock, but only $54,500 had been
subscribed at the time of this construction. There were also $38,000 of eight
per cent, three-year, gold bonds outstanding and about $10,000 in bills
payable. The total cost of the road was estimated at $100,000.
In
reorganization on July 24, 1895, the name of the company was changed to
Gainesville and Gulf Railway Company which was chartered on June 22, 1895. The new company was authorized to increase
capital stock to $1,000,000. It also
received a land grant of alternate sections along the right-of-way, plus an
extra ten thousand acres per mile from the state. The projected route was from Gainesville to
Tampa Bay or the Gulf of Mexico.
In
1899 the line was extended to Fairfield, Fla., 12 miles south of Micanopy, and
to Sampson City, Fla., 20 miles north of Gainesville, for a total distance of
48 miles. At Sampson City the G&G connected with the GS&F which had
been acquired by Southern Railway in 1895. The G&G was a standard gauge
road laid with 35 and 60-pound rail.
Rolling stock consisted of three Baldwin 4-6-0s, Nos. 60, 70 and 71, and
17 cars.
The
Gainesville and Gulf ran a deficit every fiscal year between 1895 and 1900,
with the exception of 1897 when it had a surplus of $9,194. The company lost no money during the year
ending in 1896 in which there was a deficit of $1,632 after $3,500 was paid out
in dividends.
Notwithstanding
its nickname of “Grits and Gravy,” the G&G was formally advertised as “The
Fruit and Vegetable Route of Florida.”
In
1898 the Georgia Southern & Florida made an investment in certain stock and
the total $150,000 principal amount of outstanding bonds of the Gainesville and
Gulf. The road was sold in 1907 to the F. J. Lisman Company which had organized
the Tampa and Jacksonville Railway on June 6, 1906. On February 25, 1907 the G&G and T&J
were consolidated by joint agreement with the new organization taking the name
of the Tampa and Jacksonville Railway. The new company issued bonds, certain of
which were reserved to redeem the Gainesville and Gulf bonds owned by the
GS&F.
Although
the T&J was proposed to extend between its two namesake cities, the road’s
only extension was an additional eight miles from Fairfield to Emathla, Fla.,
resulting in a total length of 56 miles. It continued to bill itself as “The
Fruit and Vegetable Route of Florida.”
Produce from the area south of Gainesville and phosphate rock and
fuller’s earth from the Emathla area were the chief products hauled by the road
which served primarily as a feeder line for the GS&F at Sampson City.
Besides one daily except Sunday round trip over the entire line both the
G&G and the T&J operated double daily trains between Gainesville and
Sampson City. Schedules were coordinated with GS&F trains between Sampson
City, Valdosta and Macon with connections to and from Atlanta via the Central
of Georgia.
Tampa & Jacksonville #58 photographed at the
Southern Iron & Equipment Company’s shops in Atlanta.
The
public convenience of the G&G and T&J was demonstrated as the road
helped to facilitate intercollegiate romance between female students at the
Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) at Tallahassee,
Fla., and the all male University of Florida at Gainesville. The enthusiastic
students rode the T&J from Gainesville to Sampson City, the GS&F from
Sampson City to Lake City and the Seaboard Air Line from Lake City to
Tallahassee or vice versa.
In 1913, to
augment the passenger accommodations, the T&J built an open platform wooden
motorcar in its shops. Numbered
T&J MC-1, the motorcar was powered by a six-cylinder gasoline engine for an
Everett automobile and had ten reversible seats with a seating capacity of 20. MC-1 operated as T&J trains 9 and 10
between Gainesville and Sampson City where it connected with GS&F trains to
Valdosta, Macon and beyond. The MC-1 was
replaced about 1915 with a new motorcar, resembling McKeen railcar, which was
designed and built by the T&J.
Although the new car was named Kathryn, it was soon nicknamed the
“Hoodler” because of the sound of its whistle.
In 1917 the MC-1 was sold to the Live Oak Perry & Gulf Railroad,
which operated it in regular service until the early 1930s. The LOP&G was destined to become a
subsidiary of the GS&F in later years.
Tampa & Jacksonville #59 photographed at the
Southern Iron & Equipment Company’s shops in Atlanta.
The GS&F sold
its $150,000 worth of Gainesville and Gulf bonds during 1910. In 1926 the
GS&F’s stock interest (which had been exchanged for the stock of the
Gainesville and Gulf) in the T&J was wiped out in the foreclosure of the
T&J mortgage. After this event the GS&F no longer had any ownership
interest in the Gainesville and Gulf or the Tampa and Jacksonville.
In October 1925 a
committee acting for the holders of the First Mortgage bonds of the T&J
entered into an agreement with the Seaboard Air Line Railway that resulted in
sale of all Tampa & Jacksonville property to the Jacksonville, Gainesville
& Gulf Railway that had been incorporated by the Seaboard Air Line for that
purpose on September 14, 1926. The
acquisition was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission and on July 14,
1927 the JG&G commenced operations on the 56-mile line between Sampson City
and Emathla. At that time equipment
consisted of four locomotives and ten cars (two passenger cars, one combination
car, six boxcars and one caboose).
On February 1,
1930 the Interstate Commerce Commission authorized the company to abandon 18
miles extending from North Gainesville to Sampson City. Whatever value to the
GS&F that had not already disappeared with the control of the former
T&J line by the Seaboard was lost with this abandonment.
Jacksonville Gainesville & Gulf 60 at the
Gainesville shops in 1941. For more photos of the 60 on this day click here!
The Jacksonville
Gainesville & Gulf continued to operate from Gainesville to Emathla.
However, it finally found itself under a final decree of foreclosure and sale
entered by the U. S. District Court at Jacksonville, Fla., on December 19,
1942. By this time equipment had
dwindled to only one locomotive, one caboose, and two service cars. The road
was purchased by Russell M. Van Kirk who operated it until May 10, 1944 when
the Interstate Commerce Commission issued an order for abandonment of the
remaining 35.9 miles between Gainesville and Emathla.
Sources:
- Hill,
Ralph G., and Pledger, James H. (comp.). The Railroads of Florida. (Tallahassee: The Florida Railroad
Commission, 1939)
- Johnson,
Dudley Sady, The Railroads of Florida 1865-1900, A Doctoral
Dissertation (Tallahassee, Fla.: Florida State University, August 1965).
- Moody’s
Manual of Investments,
(New York: Moody’s Investors Service, 1943, 1944 and 1945).
- Official
Guide of the Railways
(New York: National Railway Publication Company, October 1895, December
1905, January 1910 and December 1915).
- Official
Railway Equipment Register (New York, National Railway
Publication Company, September 1913 and November 1919).
- .Poor’s
Manual of Railroads
(Chicago: H. V. and H. W. Poor, 1895, 1896, 1900, 1906, 1910, 1914, 1926, 1927
and 1930).
- Second
Supplement to Legal History of the Southern Railway Company.
For the all time Locomotive Roster
Click Here
For more pictures of # 60 in 1941
Click Here
For photos of the surviving
Micanopy Depot Click Here
To
return to the Grits & Gravy, the Story of the Gainesville & Gulf, Click
Here
To Return to Taplines Click Here
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