The Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society, Inc., holds two meetings each year, and also attends other events.
Annual Membership Meeting
Our annual membership meeting is held the second weekend in October, usually in the CofGa’s headquarters city of Savannah, Ga., and includes our annual “business” meeting and elections for Board of Directors. These meetings usually last Friday through Sunday.
As part of this meeting, we visit various sites related to the Central of Georgia in the immediate Savannah area. In past years, this has included explorations of the abandoned Tybee Branch, visits to the Georgia Ports Authority, tours of the former CofGa Hospital building, sessions at the Georgia Historical Society (with their large archival collection of CofGa materials), tours of the former CofGa “Red” and “Gray” office buildings, visits to the former Savannah & Atlanta headquarters building, and following abandoned CofGa roadbed around Savannah.
We also often include time for a “work day” at the Georgia State Railroad Museum (formerly the Roundhouse Railroad Museum), which is located at the former CofGa Shops, to help the museum with their collection of historic railroad equipment. In recent years, our “work day” has been devoted to the Society’s 1925 CofGa flat car, which is located at the Museum.
Spring Meeting
The Society also has a spring meeting, usually in April or May, in a different outlying city on the Central of Georgia. Our spring meetings are usually just one-day events.
Recent spring meetings have been held in Leeds, Ala., Macon, Ga., Rome, Ga., Madison, Ga., Carrollton, Ga., and Dublin, Ga. We’ve also participated in joint meetings with other organizations in Chattanooga, Tenn., Kennesaw, Ga., and Birmingham, Ala.
Train Shows and Prototype Modeling Meets
The Society attends several model train shows throughout the southeast during the year. Popular shows are held annually in Atlanta, Ga. (usually January, March, and August), Savannah, Ga. (January), Birmingham, Ala. (December), Manchester, Ga. (October), and Jacksonville, Fla. (February).
We also attend several Railroad Prototype Modeler (RPM) meets each year, including Savannah, Ga., Collinsville (St. Louis), Ill., and Naperville, Ill.
At each of these events, we sell a variety of CofGa-related items for both modelers and railfans, including t-shirts, caps, models, decals, diagram books, and photographs. (Many of the items we sell are available from our online store.) Sales of these items help fund future Society projects.