The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA) was created as the Western Railroad of Alabama by the owners of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad in 1860. It was built to further the M&WP's development West from Montgomery, Alabama to Selma, Alabama. When the line was finally constructed in 1870, the M&WP was merged into the WRA, creating a line from Selma to West Point, Georgia. It served Auburn, Alabama and connected in Opelika, Alabama to the Central of Georgia line from Columbus, Georgia to Birmingham, Alabama. Although it was partially owned by the Central of Georgia around the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, it did not end up being owned by Norfolk Southern when that company came into existence due to the merger of the CofG's parent, the Southern Railway, and the Norfolk and Western Railway.
In the 1980s, the line and its sister railroads, the Atlanta and West Point Railroad and the Georgia Railroad, became part of the Family Lines System, along with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Clinchfield Railroad. The lines were all later renamed Seaboard System Railroad, which in 1986 merged with the Chessie System to become CSX Transportation.
The WRA is still in full use for freight. Passenger service on this line ceased in the late 1960s.
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