The Mobile & Ohio Railroad (M&O) reached Montgomery in 1898. It built from a branch line from the M&O’s main route at Artesia, Mississippi to Columbus, Mississippi laid in 1860. The M&O’s north to south trunk line between Mobile, Alabama and Columbus, Kentucky was extended to St. Louis, Missouri in 1886. The railroad’s route covered a distance of 181 miles from Artesia to Montgomery Union Station and became the Montgomery District. Branch tracks went to Tidewater, Alabama (from there to Kellerman, Alabama over a wholly owned subsidiary Warrior Southern Railway); Blocton, Alabama; and in the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio (GM&O) era to Birmingham, Alabama on April 22, 1952 over the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from Tuscaloosa, Alabama via trackage rights.

The M&O/GM&O Freight Depot on Lee Street in 1916, just two blocks from Union Station, survived until the 1970’s. Credits: National Archives, ICC Valuation Papers

M&O’s motive to reach Montgomery came from a desire to expand revenue traffic with a connection at Montgomery to the Southeast and Florida as well as to tap into the traffic developing with the oncoming coal, iron, and steel industries in the Birmingham area. Construction contracts were let out in 1896 for laying track from Columbus to Montgomery. The last spike ceremony took place on May 12, 1898 at Tuscaloosa. Miss Kate Jemison did the honors of driving the last spike with a silver spike and a handsome oak hammer.

M&O-GM&O employees had long referred to the Montgomery District as the "Pea Vine". They used the term because the track profile of numerous hills and curves resembled the growth of a pea vine over the ground. There were significant hills over one percent gradient. These comprised Trio Hill (1.37% southbound and maximum ruling grade on the district), Sand Mountain Hill, Pletcher Hill, Jaffre Hill, and Dosterville Hill. The route included three major bridges over the Tombigbee, Black Warrior, and Alabama Rivers. In 1899 the M&O entered into negotiations with the Birmingham Southern (BS) Railroad to construct a track to the M&O from Birmingham. Controlling BS stock, the L&N and Southern Railway blocked this proposal. In 1901, the Southern Railway obtained control of the M&O as a subsidiary. The M&O became the GM&O on September 13, 1940 when merged with the Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad. The GM&O merged into the Illinois Central Gulf (ICG) on August 10, 1972 with the Illinois Central (IC) Railroad.

The operational hub of the Pea Vine was Tuscaloosa. Railroad offices, train dispatchers and crews were based there. Train crews operated from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery and return and to Artesia and return. The major rail yards with service and repair facilities were Artesia, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery with a switch engine stationed at Columbus, Mississippi. Some time after the M&O came to Montgomery, it built and operated an interlocking tower one mile east of its West End Yard. All railroads had to pass the tower to get to their Montgomery yards and paid fees to the M&O-GM&O for its services handling trains at the tower. The railroad also had a freight house on the corner of Lee and Tallapoosa Streets, one block south from Montgomery’s Union Station.