I am trying to find archived Central of Georgia Railway records pertaining to a 1915 passenger train wreck in Georgia. According to the official ICC accident report (which I found online), the cause of the accident was the result of error on the part of one or more C of G employees operating the passenger train. Where might I find additional detailed C of G records on the accident, including how much the Central of Georgia Railway paid out in damages and to whom?

-- Sheila Spires (SWSpires@aol.com), October 19, 2004

Answers

Sheila,

If you already have the ICC accident report, the only other source of which I am aware would be the Central of Georgia collection at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah.

Collection 1362AP-70 is the CofGa President's Subject files, and boxes 278 and 279 are indexed as "Accidents." Although I haven't done much research in these accident reports, I think that most date from the 1940s or later.

GHS Collection 1362AP-45 is "Executive Correspondence Files 1890s- 1940s" which "might" have some accident reports or information. However, you'll have to go through the index (which is a large, handwritten ledger book) at GHS. Unfortunately, many of the files listed in this index are missing.

Allen Tuten President Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society, Inc.

-- Allen Tuten (allen@cofg.org), October 19, 2004.