The original plan for this railroad was to haul from marble quarries in northern Georgia and from iron ore mines in North Carolina. The Marietta & North Georgia Railroad was constructed as a 3' narrow gauge line, but a third rail was added in the late 1880s to accommodate both standard and narrow gauge trains.

In receivership most of the 1890s, the line was reorganized as the Atlanta, Knoxville & Northern Railroad in 1896, as shown above. 

From the 1st Annual Report of the North Carolina Railroad Commission, dated December 31, 1891:

The Marietta & North Georgia Railway Company was organized under special acts of the Legislatures of North Carolina and Georgia.

Main line of road completed: Marietta, GA, via Murphy, NC, to Knoxville, Tenn.

Rails thirty pounds per yard (narrow gauge).

Total number of miles in North Carolina, 13.25, all in Cherokee County.

The road in hands of receiver. J. B. Glover, receiver; W. B. Bradley, passenger agent.

This company was first chartered as the Georgia & North Carolina Railroad Company by Act of the General Assembly ratified the 31st day of March, 1871. Afterwards amended by Act ratified the 3d day of March, 1887, giving it its present name.

Gross receipts, $4,538.82.

The Ellijay Railroad, incorporated in 1854, was the first attempt to build a rail line from Marietta to the north Georgia mountains. It was followed by the Marietta, Canton & Ellijay Railroad and the Marietta & North Georgia Railroad. Construction finally started in 1874, and the line from Marietta to Canton was completed in May of 1879. It was extended to Marble Cliff in 1883, to Ellijay in 1884, and to Murphy, NC in 1887.

In 1887, the company was consolidated with the Georgia & North Carolina Railroad and renamed as the Marietta and North Georgia Railway.

Originally built as narrow gauge (3’-0”), the line was converted to standard gauge in 1889-90, except for the Blue Ridge-Murphy branch, which was not changed over until late in 1897.

On August 9, 1890, the line became part of a through route from Atlanta to Knoxville when the Knoxville Southern Railroad, a subsidiary, completed tracks from Tennessee to Blue Ridge.

In early 1891, the railroad entered receivership, but it wasn’t until 1896 that it was sold. The Atlanta, Knoxville and Northern Railroad, chartered in June of 1896, became the successor to the Marietta & North Georgia Railway.

Six years later, in 1902, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad acquired the line. After the L&N was incorporated into CSX, some sections of the line in north Georgia were semi-abandoned while the southern end was sold to a shortline operator, the Georgia Northeastern Railroad.

Towns on Route (in NC):

Murphy

Kinsey (1889)

Englands Point > Ranger (1889) > Oak Park (1912)

Culberson (1887)

NC/GA State Line