It was part of a railroad system that ran from the community of Elizabeth near Marietta, Georgia, northward to Murphy in far western North Carolina, and to Delano just south of Etowah in southeast Tennessee.
From the Western & Atlantic Railroad in Elizabeth (now within Marietta city limits), it connected through Blackwells, Noonday, Woodstock, Lebanon/Toonigh, Holly Springs, and Canton.
Most of the AK&N's stock was purchased by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1902, which gave the L&N a complete route from Atlanta to Cincinnati via Knoxville.
L&N moved its Atlanta division headquarters to Etowah, where the train station now serves as a museum owned by the city.
The entire main line from Marietta to Etowah is in use by three companies today: the Georgia Northeastern Railroad for freight from Elizabeth Yard to Ellijay, the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway (owned by GNRR) from Blue Ridge to McCaysville since 1998, and the Tennessee Valley Railroad from Copperhill to Delano since 2004.