Gulf Coast & Southern

The Gulf Coast & Southern railroad, or GC&S, is a Class I Railroad serving nearly all Southern and Southeastern US States, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the District of Columbia.

History
In the late 70s, Railroads along the east coast were experiencing merger fever, and every railroad was scrambling to consolidate into one. The original plan for the Southern Railroad was to merger with the Illinois Central, however this attempt failed and ultimately resulted in the Southern looking for another partner. Family Lines System approached with a deal, but Southern declined. It would not be until 1981, after the N&W reported talk of confirming merger with the Chessie System, that Southern would accept the Family Lines, now Seaboard System's merger offer. The Southern and Seaboard Systems operated together for two years and ended up combining lines, before finalizing the merger on March 26, 1983. Southern took full control of the Seaboard System and renamed the system to the Gulf Coast & Southern.

In 1995, the CN was disscussing plans to take over Illinois Central, however, in acts of desperation, IC turned to the GC&S for backup. The end deal was a split of the IC, resulting in GC&S reciving all lines South of Illinois, and CN taking all lines North of it.

The GC&S followed routine operation of Southern, continuing to have units long hood forward equipped well into the early 21st century. Its original scheme was a pure crimson with Gulf Coast & Southern applied to the side in gold lettering, with white safety tape later being applied in 1995 shortly after pickup of the Illinois Central. In 2004, the first Crimson Tuxedo painted locomotive emerged, mimicking the old Southern tuxedo scheme, and it would soon become the normal scheme for GC&S in the coming years.

Cooperative Operations
GC&S currently operates other railroads owned by the holding company as separate entities, including Florida East Coast, North Carolina Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation, and United States Sugar Corp.

Subsidiaries/Reporting Marks
GC&S Operates reporting marks based on the location a unit is assigned to. These include;
 * SOU - Former Southern Railway Trackage
 * SCL - Former Seaboard Coast Line Trackage
 * L&N - Former Louisville and Nashville Trackage
 * COG - Central of Georgia Trackage and most Yards in Georgia area
 * GSF - Georgia Southern & Florida switching units/mainline units
 * CNO&TP - Central New Orleans & Texas Pacific, Rathole Division units. Mark is no longer printed onto modern units but lingers on a few older painted engines.
 * ACL - Former Atlantic Coastline Trackage. Mark is no longer printed onto modern units.
 * SAL - Former Seaboard Airline Trackage. Mark is no longer printed onto modern units.
 * S&A - Former Savannah & Atlanta Trackage. Mark was replaced with SOU.
 * IC - Former Illinois Central Trackage. Mark is only painted on former Illinois Central Power or power purchased for the line.
 * A&WP - Former Atlanta & West point route/Georgia line. Mark is no longer printed onto modern units.
 * IS - Interstate Railroad, Mark was printed on former Southern Railway units but was never printed onto GC&S units.
 * GCS - Gulf Coast & Southern. Used for purchased power or bloodline GC&S engine.
 * GCSY - Gulf Coast & Southern Yard unit.

Sweetgrass Southern
Recently, GC&S created an additional railroad that operates on the Island of Hontoon, which harbors the Eastern Seaboard of America, called the Sweetgrass Southern. It operates similarly to Metro North/LIRR by utilizing third rail equipment.

Heritage Fleet
GC&S has a planned Heritage fleet to be painted onto 10 C44-9 Units. All roads are predecessors of railroads prior. Each unit will be painted at GC&S's Mahon Shops in Atlanta, GA.
 * 1) GC&S 8840 - Georgia/A&WP Route
 * 2) GC&S 8841 - Savannah & Atlanta
 * 3) GC&S 8842 - Seaboard Air Line
 * 4) GC&S 8843 - Atlantic Coast Line
 * 5) GC&S 8844 - Louisville & Nashville
 * 6) GC&S 8845 - Interstate
 * 7) GC&S 8846 - Central of Georgia
 * 8) GC&S 8847 - Illinois Central
 * 9) GC&S 8848 - Southern
 * 10) GC&S 8849 - Seaboard Coast Line

Divisions
There are a total of 9 divisions on GC&S.
 * Florida Division - Entire State of Florida, mostly former Seaboard Tracks.
 * Georgia Division - Entire State of Florida, GS&F, and small parts of Alabama.
 * Alabama Division - Entire State of Alabama, and tip of Florida Panhandle, forks out slightly to Georgia and Mississippi.
 * Carolina Division - North part of Georgia from Atlanta, Western part of South and North Carolina, Southwest Virginia.
 * Piedmont Division - Eastern South and North Carolina, Eastern Virginia, West Virginia, CNO&TP/Rathole District, Western Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and Maryland.
 * Memphis Division - Eastern Tennessee, Northern Louisiana, Southern Kentucky, Northern Mississippi and Western Arkansas.
 * River Division - Mississippi, Southern Louisiana, Southeast Texas, Southern Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
 * Chicago Division - Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Far North Tennessee/West Virginia.
 * Texas Division - Entire State of Texas, Southeastern Louisiana and Southern Oklahoma.

Mahon Shops
Often nicknamed the Juniata of the South, GC&S's Mahon Shops (Pronounced Ma-hawn) is a historic and powerful landmark on the company's long stretch. Originally built by the Southern Railroad, these shops have housed rebuilds, re-powers, numerous amounts of paint work, freight car construction and more. In GC&S days, the shop serves as a rebuild, repair, and repaint facility. Most engines are torn apart and put back together again and run as clean as a whistle. The shops originally were just called Inman Shops, but to differentiate from the Yard the shops were housed in, they were renamed to Mahon Shops in 2005 after former Georgia Division Operation Manager Brianna Mahon.