Western and Atlantic Railroad

Western & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia

Map of the W&A, with locations of different events in the Great Locomotive Chase marked. The road did not extend beyond Atlanta and Chattanooga prior to its lease to the NC&StL.
One of the W&A's famous locomotives, The General, on display in the railroad's Union Depot in Chattanooga
Overview
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Reporting mark	W&A
Locale	Tennessee, Georgia
Dates of operation	1836–present
Successor	Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Previous gauge	5 ft (1,524 mm) and 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)[1]
Length	138 miles (222 km)

The Western & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia (W&A) is a railroad owned by the State of Georgia and currently leased by CSX, which CSX operates in the Southeastern United States from Atlanta, Georgia, to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

It was founded on December 21, 1836. The city of Atlanta was founded as the terminus of the W&A, with the terminus marked with the Atlanta Zero Mile Post. The line is still owned by the State of Georgia from Atlanta to CT Tower in Chattanooga; it is leased by CSX Transportation.

The W&A Subdivision is a railroad line leased by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Tennessee and Georgia. The line runs from Chattanooga to Marietta, Georgia for a total of 119.1 miles (191.7 km). At its north end, it continues south from the Chattanooga Subdivision of the Nashville Division and at its south end it continues south as the Atlanta Terminal Subdivision (Chart A).^[2][3]

This line, originally built to 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge,^[4] is famous because of the Great Locomotive Chase, also referred to as Andrews' raid, which took place on the W&A during the American Civil War on the morning of April 12, 1862.