Norfolk Southern suffered from a pair of large tropic storms in the mid-90s, losing services over the Ochille - Americus "O" line. After restoring the railroad to operating conditions NS chose to mothball the line, as the two through freight trains that regularly operated over the line had been re-routed. In August 1995, the Georgia Southwestern purchased the former Central of Georgia line and acquired trackage rights from BV&E Junction (Americus) to Albany in order to access the rest of the GSWR network in Smithville.