The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including interstate bus lines and telephone companies. Congress expanded ICC authority to regulate other modes of commerce beginning in 1906. Throughout the 20th century, several of ICC's authorities were transferred to other federal agencies. The ICC was abolished in 1995, and its remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board.
Johnston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,272. Its county seat is Tishomingo. It was established at statehood on November 16, 1907, and named for Douglas H. Johnston, a governor of the Chickasaw Nation.
Bromide is a town in Coal and Johnston counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 165 at the 2010 census.
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company was an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern and Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. KCS had the shortest north-south rail route between Kansas City, Missouri, and several key ports along the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. Route 271 is a north–south United States highway. Never a long highway, it went from bi-state route to a tri-state route. Its southern terminus is in Tyler, Texas, at an intersection with State Highway 31 and SH 155. The highway's northern terminus is in Fort Smith, Arkansas, at an intersection with Business U.S. Route 71 and Highway 255. It enters Arkansas from Oklahoma as a controlled-access highway, but the highway continues as Interstate 540 when US 271 exits toward downtown after one-half mile (800 m) in Arkansas.
The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of UP.
The Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad is a 52.9-mile (85.1 km) short-line railroad in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. Opened in 1908, it has undergone several corporate reorganizations, but has remained independent of larger carriers. In 2004, paper producer Georgia-Pacific sold the company to shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Traffic generally consists of lumber, paper, forest products, and chemicals.
The Fort Smith and Western Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (KO&G) was formed on July 31, 1919 from the assets of the bankrupt Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway. The KO&G largely consisted of a single line from Baxter Springs, Kansas, to Denison, Texas, prior to its purchase by Missouri Pacific's Texas and Pacific Railway in 1964 and merger in 1970.
The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was a U.S. railroad that owned or operated two disjointed segments, one connecting St. Louis, Missouri with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connecting Albuquerque, New Mexico with Needles in Southern California. It was incorporated by the U.S. Congress in 1866 as a transcontinental railroad connecting Springfield, Missouri and Van Buren, Arkansas with California. The central portion was never constructed, and the two halves later became parts of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway systems, now both merged into the BNSF Railway.
The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (CO&G), known informally as the "Choctaw Route," was an American railroad in the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad was a railway company that began operations in the 1890s and owned a main-line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Port Arthur, Texas. It was led by Arthur Stilwell before being thrown into receivership and eventually being absorbed by the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1900.
The V&S Railway is a shortline railroad that operates two disconnected lines in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is affiliated with A&K Railroad Materials. The company acquired its first line, a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line between Medicine Lodge and a BNSF Railway junction at Attica, from the Central Kansas Railway in 2000. In 2006 it expanded its operations by acquiring from the Hutchinson and Northern Railway a short segment of former interurban in eastern Hutchinson, where it interchanges with the BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. Other railroads under common control with the V&S are the out-of-service Kern Valley Railroad in Colorado, the Gloster Southern Railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Grenada Railway and Natchez Railway in Mississippi, a portion of the former Rock Island from St. Louis to Union, Missouri operated by the Missouri Central and the Southern Manitoba Railway in Manitoba.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The Okmulgee Northern Railway Company (ON), originally the Coalton Railway, was a shortline rail carrier in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. It was in operation from 1916 to 1964.
The Southwest Missouri Railroad Company was a rail carrier in the tri-state mining region of southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. An outgrowth of passenger streetcar lines with 94 miles of track, it became a smaller but full-fledged electric freight railway by the time it ceased operations effective May 31, 1939.
The Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railway, known colloquially as the “Ringling Railroad,” ran from Ardmore, Oklahoma to Ringling, Oklahoma, with a branch to Healdton, Oklahoma. It was started in 1913, and was sold to an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) affiliate in 1926.
The Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway (“K&AV”) was owner of 170.64 miles of single track, standard gauge steam railroad line, consisting of a 164.63 mile mainline from a junction near Van Buren, Arkansas through Oklahoma to Coffeyville, Kansas, with branch lines of 6.01 miles. It began operations in 1888 and sold its property to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway in 1909.
