The Georgia Woodlands Railroad operates 17.3 miles (27.8 km) of track between Washington, Georgia

Washington, Georgia

Washington is a city in Wilkes County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,295 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Wilkes County...

, and Barnett, Georgia. Originally a subsidiary of the Chicago West Pullman Transportation Corporation, it was acquired by OmniTRAX

OmniTRAX

OmniTRAX, Inc. is one of North America's largest private railroad and transportation management companies, providing management services to 16 regional and short-line railroads that serve 10 U.S...

 in 1992.

Primary commodities include woodchips

Woodchips

Woodchips are a medium-sized solid material made by cutting, or chipping, larger pieces of wood. Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel. They may also be used as an organic mulch in gardening, landscaping, restoration ecology and mushroom cultivation...

, lumber products, butane

Butane

Butane is a gas with the formula C4H10 that is an alkane with four carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of two structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, butane refers only to the unbranched n-butane isomer; the other one being called "methylpropane" or...

, and plastics, generating 570 annual carloads. The railroad interchanges with CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 at Barnett.

History

Originally completed by the Georgia Railroad as the Washington branch in 1852, the railroad remained in control of the Georgia until its merger with the Seaboard System

Seaboard System Railroad

The Seaboard System Railroad was a former Class I railroad created by merging the railroads of the Family Lines System. Although sharing common ownership, the railroads of the Family Lines System used different names when conducting business...

in 1983. CSX gained control of the Seaboard System in 1986.

CSX sold the line to the Georgia Eastern Railroad in February 1987. The railroad lasted just over a year before becoming the Georgia Woodlands Railroad on June 7, 1988. Upon its start, traffic included pulpwood, woodchips, plastic, lumber, fertilizer, and others, generating 2,500 annual carloads.

The railroad became part of OmniTRAX in 1992.