Collins Park & Belt Railroad Company was unique in the fact that it connected downtown Atlanta with the Chattahoochee River to the west. It was chartered in 1889 by James D. Collins, James R. Collins, H.L. Woodward, and S.H. Venable, and it took over the line from the briefly incorporated Atlanta & Chattahoochee River Railway Co. in 1891. Woodward had experience in the industry as part of the Atlanta Traction Company. Samuel H. Venable and William Venable owned the Southern Granite Company, which operated quarries at Stone Mountain, Arabia Mountain, and Pine Mountain in Georgia.

The route featured a power station, housed in a stone structure located south of Proctor Creek and west of Hollywood Road. Coal was ferried to the powerhouse from the main railroad line by a home built electric locomotive on a three quarter-mile track (Carson 1982:35). The company would eventually join with Georgia Electric Light Company (Georgia Power) to form the Atlanta Rapid Transit Company.