Gulf, Mobile & Northern

"The Road of Service" ~ "Keep Your Freight Moving"

In 1930, Tom Martin, then editor of the Gulf, Mobile and Northern News, described the growth of the line he worked for in these words: "The story of the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad is the story of the post-war South -- of small and difficult beginnings undertaken by men of courage and of vision, of many vicissitudes; but of progress in the face of apparently insuperable difficulties." In 1930 it could be said that the GM&N truly had made progress. In 1920 such a statement might have been open to question. No one, however, could ever question that part of Martin's statement about small and difficult beginnings, for no railroad could have had a much more difficult start than the pieces of lines which by 1920 had been merged into the GM&N.

James H. Lemly

The Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad was a predecessor line to the Gulf Mobile & Ohio system, comprising the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago and the New Orleans Great Northern. Formed in 1917, the backbone of the GM&N was a north-south mainline from Jackson, Tennessee to Mobile, Alabama. A branching main line extended west and south from Union, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana -- reached by trackage rights over the Southern Railway. The GM&N also connected the junction at Union to Meridian, Mississippi by a short eastward extension. The GM&N ran an unusual streamlined trainset known The Rebel from Jackson to Mobile, with a section that extended to New Orleans. In 1940 the GM&N merged with the Mobile & Ohio to become the Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad.

1938 system map

See also our predecessor New Orleans Great Northern mainline collection

Motive Power

Gulf, Mobile & Northern #251

builder's photo / collection

Gulf, Mobile & Northern #251

builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
arrangement:2-10-0 Decapod
built:1923, Baldwin #57380
fuel:coal/water
notes:
25x30" cylinders, 57" drivers
blt new for Gulf, Mobile & Northern
to Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #251, 1940
1 of 16 GMN Baldwin Decapods

Gulf, Mobile & Northern #401

Jackson, Ms / Sep 1937 / Witbeck photo / collection

Gulf, Mobile & Northern #401

builder:ALCO Richmond
arrangement:4-8-2 Mountain
built:Jun 1927, Alco #67317
fuel:coal/water
notes:
24x28" cylinders, 63" drivers
ex New Orleans Great Northern #201
to Gulf, Mobile & Northern #401, 1933
to Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #501, 1940
1 of 3 ex NOGN Mountains acquired

Gulf, Mobile & Northern #425

builder's photo / collection

Gulf, Mobile & Northern #425

builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
arrangement:4-6-2 Pacific
built:Jan 1928, Baldwin #60339
fuel:coal/water
notes:
22x28" cylinders, 69" drivers
blt Gulf Mobile & Northern #425
to Gulf Mobile & Ohio #580, 1940
to Louisiana Eastern #4, 1950
to Valley Forge Scenic #425
to Wilmington & Western #425
currently Reading & Northern #425

Louisiana Eastern #4

Shiloh, La / Apr 1958 / JCH

See also our complete Louisiana Eastern steam shortline collection

"The Rebel"

"Rebel" promotional ticket envelope / collection

The Rebel cars, including the power cars, were built at ACF's Berwick, Pennsylvania, plant with Alco-Westinghouse traction equipment. The trains were not articulated, and their operation required switching cars in and out en route. The power car had mail and baggage compartments. A Jim Crow buffet-coach and an observation-sleeper made up the basic consist of the original two Rebels, with an extra coach switched in between Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, where traffic was the heaviest. Power car #354, added in 1937, was distinguished by having about twice the radiator space in the roof as compared to the original two cars, though mechanically it was nearly identical. It handled a sing combination sleeper and coach from Mobile, Alabama, to Union, Mississippi, where the northbound car was cut into the mainline Rebel and a sister car was picked up from the southbound Rebel for return with #354 to Mobile.

Jerry Pinkepank, Second Diesel Spotter's Guide

The GM&N Rebel was not only the first true streamliner operated in the Deep South, it was one of the first lightweight streamliners used anywhere in the nation. Rivals included only the Baltimore & Ohio's (Alton) Royal Blue and Abraham Lincoln train sets, both of which would be inherited by GM&N successor GM&O through acquisition of the Alton Route in 1946. The Rebels were built with conventional (non-articulated) construction, allowing extra cars to be switched in and out as needed at Union, Mississippi. Sets featured coach seating and a sleeper-observation car, with six sections and a drawing-room.