The AT&N railroad is nothing but a memory now. The Burlington Northern struck once again and a proud line has fallen to the wayside. The steel rails have been ripped from the roadbed. The ties and chat removed and weeds have taken there place. The AT&N was where my first day of railroading began. That day now seems so long ago. Let's take a look at some of the colorful history that came together to create the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern Railway Company. As was often the case in the story of American railroads during their development era, the AT&N grew gradually; a gathering of a series of short lines, through acquisitions and additions. The Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company in 1897 announced plans to build a line from Artesia, Mississippi through Pickens County to Tuscaloosa and on to Montgomery. Leading citizens in Carrollton sought to persuade the company to bring the line through the county seat, but M&O officials chose a route through Reform and Gordo to ensure faster mail service as required by the U.S. Postal Service. Led by W. G. Robertson, Judge O. L. McKinstry, E. R. Calhoun and M. L. Stansel, Carrollton residents organized a corporation to build a railroad from their community to Reform, to connect there with the M&O. The beginning of the AT&N was in July 1897 when the Carrollton Short Line was chartered by the State of Alabama. In 1900 John Taylor Cochrane of the Tuscaloosa Belt Line started laying track from Reform to Carrollton. Vast timber holdings were tapped by "dummy lines" connecting to the Carrollton Short Line, creating many jobs to boost the local economy. The distance of the route was 10 miles. Two years later the line was extended 11 miles to a community known today as Aliceville, Alabama. Cochrane purchased 36 acres of land from encouraged Pickens County landowners between the villages of Franconia and Bridgeville. The town of Aliceville was established. This town was named for Cochrane's wife, Alyce Searcy. This community was later to serve as a junction point for the Frisco with the AT&N. At the time of the extension, what is now known as Aliceville was a spot in the swamp. Records indicate that upon completion of right-of-way construction, section gangs pushed an old box car off the track into the swamp, painted a sign and christened the spot Aliceville. The depot was at the south end of Broad Street. On September 29, 1906 the name of the company was changed to the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern Railway Company when the 75 mile line was completed from Reform to York.