The Chattanooga Southern Railway was founded in 1887 and began operations in 1891. It ran about 93 miles (149.7 km) of track between Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

, and Gadsden, Alabama

Gadsden, Alabama

The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...

, hauling mainly iron, timber, and coal from the Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain

thumb|right|See seven statesLookout Mountain is located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southern border of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain, along with Sand Mountain to the northwest, makes up a large portion of the...

 area. The railroad's nickname, The Pigeon Mountain Route, came from several miles of track that ran along the base of Pigeon Mountain. In 1896 the railroad ran into financial trouble and was reorganized as the Chattanooga Southern Railroad. The company operated under that name for about 15 years at which time it was again reorganized and began operating as the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway

Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway

The Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railroad was created through a reorganization of the Chattanooga Southern Railway in 1911. A few years later, in 1922, the line's name was changed to the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway and was also known as the TAG Route. The TAG ran from Chattanooga,...

.