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Alabama Interurban and Streetcar History

Published: April 6, 2025

By: Adam Burns

The Deep South contained few, true interurbans according to George Hilton and John Due's book, "The Electric Interurban Railways In America."

Tuscaloosa contained the only notable system offering significant carload freight traffic, the Tuscaloosa Railway, which later became the Alabama Power Company.

In addition, the city of Birmingham operated three suburban lines out of the city; built between 1900-1912 these small operations had all been abandoned in favor of buses by 1952.

Alabama Power Company: Today the Alabama Power Company is a electricity provider to over one million customers but back during the early 20th century it also owned a number of streetcar railroad operations including in the cities of Anniston, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. Most of its operations were out of business and shutdown by the 1920s.

Mobile Light & Railroad Company: The Mobile Light & Railroad Company began operations in 1893 serving Mobile. It operated until 1939 at which point it had grown to a nearly 50 mile system.

The interurban was shutdown that year when its president died, J. Howard Wilson and it was acquired by the National City Lines, which converted all operations to bus-only operations.

Capital City Electrical Railway, "The Lightning Route": The Capital City Electrical Railway, also known as the Lightning Route, began operations on April 15, 1886 serving Montgomery and was one of the first to recognize that dense commercial and residential areas within a city should be separated.

It operated for exactly 50 years before the service was replaced by buses. Today, Montgomery is attempting to rebuild a small interurban operation.