Final Years
In the 1980’s, the ICG undertook a corporate strategy to sell or abandon major parts of its lines. This included the Montgomery District. In early October 1985, the last ICG freight train left from Montgomery. The ICG sold the track from Artesia to Tuscaloosa and Birmingham to the Gulf & Mississippi Railroad on July 9, 1985. On April 14, 1988 SouthRail Corporation succeeded it as a subsidiary of MidSouth Corporation. Kansas City Southern acquired it on Jun 4, 1993. The track between Tuscaloosa and Maplesville was abandoned and removal began in 1986. In October 1985, Southern Railway, now Norfolk Southern, bought the track from Maplesville to Prattville while the Seaboard, now CSX, bought the track from Prattville to Montgomery. Blocton branch had been abandoned in 1944. The Warrior Southern subsidiary sold to Twin Seams Mining Company in 1940 and did not become part of the GM&O.

Harold H. Weber was born and currently resides in Southern Illinois. Through family ties, he came to an interest in railroads, especially the Mobile & Ohio and Gulf Mobile & Ohio. He is an active photographer, researcher, writer, timetable collector, and scale modeler on railroad subjects as a hobby. He has ridden passenger trains before and after the Amtrak era as well as special excursion steam, diesel, and tourist lines.