Organized in 1833 by Savannah businessmen, the Central of Georgia Railway was chartered by the Georgia Legislature as the Central Rail Road & Canal Company. The line, connecting Savannah to the interior of the state, boosted the coastal city's seaport, which had lost business to Charleston because of the South Carolina Rail Road's inland reach. In 1843, the Central was extended from Savannah to the outskirts of Macon, and after nearly 120 years of successful operation, the Central of Georgia Railway was purchased by Southern Railway. By 1982, it became merely an accounting entry in the books of Norfolk Southern, a major transportation company.

Founded in 1803 at the site of Ross's Landing on the Tennessee River, Chattanooga was once a small settlement centered around a trading post run by John Ross, who was the leader of the Cherokee nation at the time. In 1836, the State of Georgia chartered the Western and Atlantic Railroad to connect the village of Marthasville (now Atlanta) with the river port at Chattanooga. Within the next twenty years, additional railroad companies would link Chattanooga with all of the major cities in the country. These connections would prove to be vital to the Confederate effort during the Civil War and would make Chattanooga the prime target of numerous military actions on both sides, the most famous being the Andrews Raid of 1862. Railroads of Chattanooga celebrates the history of Chattanooga as a major Southeastern railroad hub and the employees, engines, and events that have made it what it is today.