History

    In 1938 the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad was incorporated to put together two lines, the Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad and the Mobile & Ohio Railroad.  The two were formally merged in 1940.    

   The GM& N could trace its ancestry back to at least 1872.  Basically its lines ran from Mobile Alabama to Jackson Tennessee with a branch over to Jackson Mississippi.  At Jackson Mississippi it went south to New Orleans Louisiana.

   The M&O dated back to 1848.  Its lines ran from Mobile Alabama to East St. Louis Illinois.  It had three major branches; one to Montgomery Alabama, one to Birmingham Alabama, and a third to Memphis Tennessee.

   In 1947, the GM&O merged the Alton Railroad.  Its history dated back 100 years to 1847.  One of its two major lines ran from Chicago, through Bloomington, Springfield, and East St. Louis to St. Louis proper with a couple branches to Peoria Illinois.  The other major line was from Springfield Illinois to Kansas City Missouri.
   On August 10th, 1972 the GM&O merged with the Illinois Central Railroad forming the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.

Map