The Georgia Northeastern occupies the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad's "Hook And Eye" line.

In 1854, it was originally chartered as the Ellijay Railroad. By the time the Civil War started seven years later, there was nothing to show for the line other than paperwork. They had mapped out a route from Elizabeth (Marietta), through Canton, Ball Ground, Jasper, Ellijay, to the Ocoee River northwest of Blue Ridge in Ducktown, Tennessee.

In 1859, the name was changed to the Marietta, Canton and Ellijay Railroad, in hopes that having the names in the railroad would help the cities push money towards the railroad by way of stocks, bonds, and securities. It was also perceived that by the time the line was finished, Ducktown would not be a dead end, since two other companies were planning on getting lines into the copper basin. These two lines, the Western North Carolina Railroad and the Cleveland and Ducktown Railroad, would head into North Carolina and Tennessee respectively.

Two years later the Civil War broke out, and nothing was done on the line until five years after the war. The organizers reformed the company, this time under the Marietta and North Georgia name, and broke ground in 1874 when the company received mortgage bonds in the amount of $15,000 per mile. While at the time that sum was hefty, it was not enough to cover all costs and lack of finances caused delays in the construction. The state wanted to see the line completed, and started furnishing convict labor to assist in the construction. To keep costs to a minimum, the line followed the contour of the land; bypassing expensive cuts, fills, and tunnels, instead giving the line tight curves and steep grades.

Service first began in 1879 when the line was completed to Canton. At that point, people in Canton had lost interest in seeing the line completed any further north. By 1880, General Phillips, the main force behind the railroad, had gotten enough northern investors to help the railroad push northward. A meeting was held by the northern counties, and Gilmer County, Georgia and Cherokee County, North Carolina both invested $15,000 and $20,000 cash respectively. The line eventually reached Jasper in 1883, Ellijay the next year, and two years later made it up to Blue Ridge and Mineral Bluff.

The 'hook' part of 'Hook and Eye' came from just north of Talking Rock, Georgia, where the line went around a small mountain, creating two tight reverse-curves. This feature stayed with the line until the mid 1950;s, when L&N cut into the mountain, taking a shorter and easier managed route. The 'hook' stayed tied into the line and useable, however, until the early 1980's, when the Appalachian Development Highway 515 was built- Georgia SR APD 515. The four-lane highway paved over the 14-degree western most curve. In 2001, the switches leading to the hook were cut-out, the only trace that it existed are two steel paths leading into an overgrown pasture.

At the time, plans had changed to take the line up into Murphy, North Carolina instead of Ducktown, Tennessee. In 1886, the owners of the Marietta and North Georgia railroad started building south out of Knoxville, up the Hiawassee Gorge to meet the Marietta and North Georgia railroad in Murphy at the state line. However, they were unable to secure 500 feet of land in Georgia leading up to the river, so the owners stopped where they ended and placed a depot. They amended the agreement with the city of Knoxville- that would have given $275,000 upon connection of the two lines if finished by July 1st, 1890-  that they could meet up at the state line in what is now Copperhill. Tennessee and McCayesville, Georgia.

The Marietta and North Georgia started a new main line out of Blue Ridge, heading up along the Toccoa river into McCayesville and Copperhill, while the Knoxville Southern was heading down the gorge. Because the time limit was quickly approaching, and while they had met (there was a small problem of about 200 vertical feet they had to reconcile), the crews created a switchback - track that when looked down from the sky looked like a 'W' with extended strokes. The strokes, or spurs, only had room for an engine and three or four cars. A train would have to separate, the engine pull into one spur, throw the switch, and push back to the next spur, where that switch was thrown, and then went back through the process to get the rest of the train. Once connected, the Knoxville and Southern was consolidated into the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad, and by 1896, the railroad was bankrupt.

The railroad was renamed to the Atlanta Knoxville and Northern, and drew attention of the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad. It was eager to keep the railroad going so it would not fall into the hands of its rival, the Southern Railway. To that end, L&N loaned its engineers to the Atlanta Knoxville and Northern to re-grade the line up the gorge. The switchbacks were cut out, getting replaced by full and three-quarter turn around a small hill, looping back under itself on a high wooden trestle. This is where the 'eye' of 'Hook and Eye' came from.

L&N took over the line in 1902, and operated it until 1983. The success of L&N and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad kept it operational until formation of the Seaboard System Lines. In 1906, the line's operating cost was too great, with the Pullman passenger cars and heavy steam engines making the tight curves and steep grades almost unmanageable. L&N created a bypass line, from Etowah, Tennessee to Cartersville, Georgia along what is now US Highway 411. Once the straighter, flatter 'New Line' was finished, the Hook and Eye line was used for freight runs, picking up commodities between Elizabeth and Etowah, and switching them at either end's interchange.

Once CSX bought the L&N Railroad company in 1983, it used the line up until 1987, when the line was sold to investors from Tennessee, which included the 41 miles between Marietta and Tate, and leasing 31 miles from Tate to Ellijay. The line north of Ellijay to Blue Ridge and McCayesville was left unused. The state bought it from CSX to keep the line from becoming destroyed at that time. CSX still operated between Etowah and Copperhill to transport raw materials out of the copper basin. CSX gave up rights to that section of track when the copper mine in Copperhill closed shop in 1989.

The original investors gave the name Georgia Northeastern (GNRR) to the line, and the name still remains. In 1990 the original investors sold all interest in the GNRR to its current owners. In 1996, GNRR leased the rest of the line from Ellijay to McCayesville, cleaned up the tracks, and started the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. The scenic railroad runs weekend from March to December, presenting riders with a one-hour long journey along the Toccoa river to McCayesville, where they have an hour and a half to shop and have lunch in the shops downtown before heading back.

The original mainline out of Blue Ridge up to Murphy is still present up to a small town named Mineral Bluff, about 5 miles northeast of Blue Ridge. The remaining line into Murphy was torn up around 1980. The line past Copperhill remains intact.