The was a
Short Line Railroad operating within the state of
Alabama . It was founded in 1897 as the '''Carrollton Short Line Railway''' to link the city of
Carrollton, Alabama with the
Mobile & Ohio Railroad at
Reform, Alabama . Through mergers, acquisitions and the building of track, the railroad eventually reached the port of
Mobile, Alabama . In 1948, the railroad was purchased by the
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (the "Frisco"), who operated it as a separate entity until 1971, when it was absorbed into the parent company.
In 1897, the Mobile & Ohio Railroad chose to route through
Pickens County, Alabama by way of
Reform, Alabama — rather than the county seat of Carrollton — since the Reform route would be faster. Having failed in their appeal to the M&O, leading citizens of Carrollton set up a corporation to connect their city with the railroad; this was chartered by the State of Alabama as the Carrollton Short Line Railway in June 1897. John Taylor Cochrane, who had constructed the
Tuscaloosa Belt Line , began building this new railroad.
