Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad

Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad

1885 map of the P&A route and connections
Locale	Florida
Dates of operation	1881–1891
Successor	Louisville and Nashville Railroad
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Previous gauge	5 ft (1,524 mm) and converted to 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm) in 1886
Length	161 miles (259 km)
Headquarters	Pensacola, Florida

The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad (P&A) was incorporated by an act of the Florida Legislature on March 4, 1881, to run from Pensacola to the Apalachicola River near Chattahoochee, a distance of about 160 miles (260 km). No railroad had ever been built across the sparsely populated panhandle of Florida, which left Pensacola isolated from the rest of the state.William D. Chipley and Frederick R. De Funiak, both of whom are commemorated in the names of towns later built along the P&A line (Chipley and DeFuniak Springs), were among the founding officers of the railroad company.

Chipley was general manager of the Pensacola Railroad, (formerly the Pensacola and Louisville Railroad, originally the Alabama and Florida Railroad, completed in 1860). The Pensacola Railroad connected Pensacola with the large, prosperous Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) at Pollard, Alabama, about 44 miles (71 km) northward. The Pensacola Railroad had become a subsidiary of the L&N on October 20, 1880. It was Chipley, a tireless promoter of his adopted city, who was responsible for initiating discussions with the L&N concerning its extension into the Florida Panhandle. De Funiak was general manager of the L&N.

Once the P&A was created, De Funiak was named president of the new road, and Chipley became its vice president and general superintendent. On May 9, 1881, the L&N obtained control of the P&A by purchasing the majority of its $3 million worth of capital stock and all of its bonds, also valued at $3 million. Construction was completed in 1883, and in 1891 the P&A was absorbed into the L&N, operating thereafter as the P&A Division of the latter.

After the L&N took control, construction proceeded rapidly, beginning on June 1, 1881, and was completed in 22 months. By April 1882, "2,278 men were engaged in grading, cutting cross-ties, piling and bridging, and laying track."