The , , was affectionately known as the "Annie and Mary". AMR's predecessor, the
Union Wharf And Plank Walk Company was incorporated on
December 15 1854 , to provide access over the mud flats near the town of Union (later
Arcata ) to ocean going shipping for a distance of . The track was built on wooden rails overlaid with strap iron. It was a horse-powered railroad from the town to the end of a wharf in
Humboldt Bay .
On
June 14 1875 , the was incorporated and took over the line and converted to steam.
On
July 29 1881 , the Arcata & Mad River Railroad was incorporated. By 1882 the wooden rails were replaced with 35-pound iron rails. In the 1890s the railroad's principal commodities were lumber, shingles, and potatoes.
The first president of the AMR in 1881 was listed as Francis Korbel. Korbel was also the name of the terminus of the AMR. Passenger service was offered on the AMR but ended on
June 6 1931 .
The railroad was eventually extended from Arcata to the
Northern Redwood Company mill at
Korbel . The Northern Redwood Company was owned by the
Charles Nelson Steamship Company . It was over 10 years after the arrival of the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) in Arcata in 1914 that the steamship company allowed an
Interchange between the AMR and the NWP at Korblex. During the lumber boom of the 1950s, the Annie and Mary served fifteen shippers on its 7½-mile railroad. The average daily car loadings were enough to place the road among the highest paying railroad properties per mile in the United States. At the time of its closure, AMR ran 4 General Electric
44-tonner diesel-electric locomotives and one
Whitcomb 80DE-7b 80 Ton diesel-electric locomotive. The Arcata and Mad River Railroad is generally considered the first railroad in California.
On
May 24 1985 , the AMR was abandoned. In September 1988 the
Eureka Southern Railroad purchased the AMR from Simpson Timber Company for $300,000. The AMR had been closed for the two year period (1986-1988) prior to its purchase by the Eureka Southern. Service was briefly resumed in 1994 by the
North Coast Railroad . Soon afterwards, landslides in the Eel River canyon closed the line, and no rail service has existed since that time.
