A Marietta-based railroad has agreed to be purchased by a group of independent investment firms.
Georgia Northeastern Railroad Company, Inc., which operates about 106 miles of railroad between Marietta and Mineral Bluff track, is being acquired by SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America and two associated firms.
Also being acquired is the company's subsidiary, Blue Ridge Scenic Excursions, according to a filing with federal authorities.
The railroad company owns only about 48 miles of the railroad, leases 33 miles from CSX Transportation, the railroad giant, and leases the rest from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Terms of the deal were not released.
According to the federal filing, the shares of the railroad company will be acquired on or after Nov. 15.
The railroad was originally chartered in 1854 as the Ellijay Railroad, and plans were made to extend lines into North Carolina and Tennessee, but no track was put down until five years after the war, according to the Georgia Northeastern web site.
Service first began in 1879 when the line was completed to Canton. The line eventually reached Jasper in 1883. Two years later, it was extended to Blue Ridge and Mineral Bluff, according to the web site.
The end point of the railroad, Mineral Bluff, is about five miles northeast of Blue Ridge.
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