Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway

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The company operated its property for its own account from April 16, 1877, to December 31, 1879, when The Richmond and Danville Railroad Company began operating the property under a lease agreement dated March 26, 1881. The property was operated by the company last named and its receivers until July 1, 1894, at which time the Southern acquired the leasehold interest of The Richmond and Danville Railroad Company and has since then operated the property.

During the period in which the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line operated ita own line it was the policy of the company to encourage and aid in the construction of branch lines as feeders. The first of these was undertaken by the Elberton Air Line Railroad Company under a contract dated July 1, 1878, whereby the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line agreed to furnish the means for the construction of a line from Elberton to a connection with its owned line at Toccoa, Ga., by undertaking to apply a certain percentage of its revenue derived from business exchanged with the Elberton Air Line Railroad Company to a fund which was to constitute a sinking fund applicable to the purchase for account of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line of the bonds issued by the Elberton Air Line Railroad Company for construction purposes, and thus in effect constitute a guaranty thereof so as to make them marketable.

In consideration of this, the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line was vested with a majority of the capital stock of the Elberton Air Line Railroad Company, and by virtue thereof assumed the operation of that line as a proprietary line when it was completed in December, 1878.

Similar agreements were entered into on September 1, 1880, with the Roswell Railroad and the Lawrenceville Branch Railroad Company, resulting in the construction of their lines and the opening thereof by the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line.

The Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line acquired a majority of the capital stock of the above-named companies and when its property was delivered to the Southern, on July 1, 1894, all of such stock passed into the hands of that company.

There are two sets of accounting records of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line. One set covers the period from the date of the organization of the company until December 31, 1880, and is in the possession of the lessor. The other set covers the period from July 1, 1915, to date of valuation, and is in the possession of the Southern. The books in the last-mentioned set were opened by the Southern without bringing forward the balances from the previous books, by recording the liability for the securities of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line outstanding on June 30, 1915, in the par value of $7,200,000, and creating an investment in road and equipment account for a corresponding amount.

There is no record of the income of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line for the period from January 1, 1881, to June 30, 1894. The income incorporated in this report for the period from July 1, 1894, to June 30, 1915, was taken from the accounting records of the Southern.

The Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line is the outcome of the
 * CORPORATE HISTORY

The Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line acquired the 268.335 miles of first main track owned by it from the consolidated companies through the consolidation agreement dated April 4, 1877. This property had been constructed by The Atlanta & Richmond Air–Line Railway Company and opened for operation in sections as follows:
 * DEVELOPMENT OF FIXED PHYSICAL PROPERTY
 * From Atlanta, Ga., north, Dec. 1, 1872 80
 * From Charlotte, N. C., south, Dec. 1, 1872 60
 * These links connected up, completing the line from Atlanta to Charlotte, Sept. 28, 1873 128
 * Total 268