The company grew from an acquisition of an existing logging railroad in 1897, and merged with the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (the "Frisco") in 1971.
John Taylor Cochrane acquired the Seaboard Railroad, a 6-year-old 33-mile narrow-gauge logging line, in a foreclosure sale in 1897.
[1] Separately, Cochrane was approached by the citizens of Carrollton, Alabama to build a short-line connecting railroad for their town.
[1] By 1948, the Frisco had purchased controlling interest, and operated it as a separate entity until 1971, when the line was absorbed into the parent company.
In 1950, under the auspices of the ATN, the Frisco began freight service to and from, and on Blakeley and Pinto Islands by way of two car floats across the Mobile River.