Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Columbus, Mississippi |
Reporting mark | C&G |
Locale | Mississippi |
Dates of operation | 1923–1972 |
Predecessor | Southern Railway in Mississippi |
Successor | Illinois Central Gulf Railroad |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Columbus, Mississippi |
Reporting mark | CAGY |
Locale | Mississippi |
Dates of operation | 1975–present |
Predecessor | Illinois Central Gulf Railroad |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Length | 162 miles (261 km) |
There have been two uses of Columbus and Greenville Railway, both for the same rail line.
The first Columbus and Greenville Railway ( reporting mark C&G) was formed by the sale of the Southern Railway operated Southern Railway in Mississippi, to local interests. In January 1952, the CAGY retired its last steam locomotive, Baldwin 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler #304 built in 1904. [1] It continued independent operations until 1972 when it was bought by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.
The second Columbus and Greenville Railway ( reporting mark CAGY) was founded in 1974 and began operations in 1975 over divested Illinois Central Gulf Railroad trackage across the state of Mississippi. Its terminals, as the name implies, are Columbus and Greenville, Mississippi.
In 2001, CAGY suspended service over 89.5 miles (144 km) of track between West Point and Greenwood due to a washout. This action split the line in two. The western section operates between Greenville and Greenwood with an interchange with Canadian National in Greenwood. The eastern section operates the remaining trackage from West Point onwards.
The company once specialized in transporting wood and paper products to and from local factories. The company's traffic base has expanded to include bricks, plastic products, feed grains for catfish and swine, finished and raw steel, and biodiesel as well as cotton and rice products. The company runs six trains a day, two between Greenwood and Greenville, two out of Columbus and two at the Severcorr steel mill between Columbus and Artesia.
The majority owner of the Columbus and Greenville is CAGY Industries, which also owns the Luxapalila Valley Railroad and the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway.
CAGY Industries was purchased by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in June, 2008. GWRR is still operating the sections of rail between Greenville and Greenwood, and between West Point and Columbus. [2]
Several pieces of CAGY equipment have been preserved and put on display:
The C&G Rail Trail Coalition was formed in early 2008 with the goal of converting the abandoned section between Greenwood and West Point into a rail trail. [3] Their effort was almost immediately put on hold when the line was purchased by Genesee & Wyoming Inc., who had no interest in abandoning the line at that point. Efforts restarted when GWRR approached the Coalition in February, 2022. [4]
As of April, 2023, the Coalition is being assisted by the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area and various municipalities along the route. They are working to acquire funding and develop preliminary plans for purchasing and converting the abandoned line to a usable trail. Some rural landowners crossed by the rail line are fighting the development.
The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad operated from 1905 to 1983 between its namesake cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio, via Toledo. At the end of 1970, it operated 478 miles of road on 762 miles of track; that year it carried 1,244 million ton-miles of revenue freight.
The Illinois Central Railroad, sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. A line also connected Chicago west to Sioux City, Iowa (1870). There was a significant branch to Omaha, Nebraska (1899), west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and another branch reaching Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), starting from Cherokee, Iowa. The IC also serviced Miami, Florida, on trackage owned by other railroads
The Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway is a Class II railroad owned by Genesee & Wyoming. It operates 339 miles (546 km) of track from the Pensacola, Florida export terminals, west of downtown, north to Columbus, Mississippi, with trackage rights along BNSF Railway to Amory, Mississippi. A branch uses trackage rights along Norfolk Southern from Kimbrough, Alabama west and south to Mobile, Alabama, with separate trackage at the end of the line in Mobile.
The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois.
The Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway is a short-line railroad which is headquartered in LaFayette, Georgia, USA. The railroad operated 22 miles (35 km) of the Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia Railway from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Kensington, Georgia, which reverted to the Norfolk Southern System and was partially removed after the Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex LLC plant in Kensington closed in August 2008. The "C&C" also operates 42 miles (68 km) of the former Central of Georgia Railway from Chattanooga to Lyerly, Georgia. That line is leased from the state of Georgia.
The San Joaquin Valley Railroad is one of several short line railroad companies and is part of the Western Region Division of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates over about 371 miles (597 km) of owned or leased track primarily on several lines in California's Central Valley/San Joaquin Valley around Fresno and Bakersfield. The SJVR has trackage rights over Union Pacific between Fresno, Goshen, Famoso, Bakersfield and Algoso. The SJVR also operated for the Tulare Valley Railroad (TVRR) from Calwa to Corcoran and Famoso.
The Georgia Southwestern Railroad is a Class III short line railroad company that operates over 234 miles (377 km) of track in southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama. Beginning in 1989 as a division of the South Carolina Central Railroad on a pair of former CSX Transportation lines, the railroad has since undergone a number of transformations through abandonments and acquisitions, before arriving at its current form. The railroad was formerly a RailAmerica property before going independent, and in 2008 it was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
The Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad, LLC is a Class II Regional Railroad in the U.S. states of Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. The company is headquartered in Carthage, Missouri. It is not to be confused with the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad which connected Joplin, Missouri, with Helena, Arkansas, from 1906 to 1946.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom; and formerly in Australia.
The Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad was a 17-mile (27 km) heritage railroad headquartered in Dodge County, Nebraska and, offered excursion services on the line. Its equipment is now owned by the Nebraska Railroad Museum.
The Meridian and Bigbee Railroad is a Class III railroad that operates over 168 miles (270 km) of track between Meridian, Mississippi and Burkville, Alabama. Additionally, the M&B has trackage rights over CSX from Burkeville to Montgomery, Alabama. MNBR operates with a 286,000-pound railcar loading capacity.
The Connecticut Southern Railroad is a 90-mile (140 km) long short-line railroad operating in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The company was formed in 1996 as a spinoff of Conrail by shortline holding company RailTex and subsequently acquired in 2000 by RailAmerica. Since 2012, it has been a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming. CSO is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, site of its Hartford Yard. The company also operates East Hartford Yard.
The Salt Lake City Southern Railroad is a 25-mile (40 km) short-line railroad operating between Salt Lake City, and Murray, in Utah, United States. The SL began operating on April 19, 1993, as a RailTex subsidiary. Today the SL is a subsidiary of the Utah Railway and is owned by the Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
The Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway is a short line railroad that operates 247 miles (398 km) of track from Mapleton, Illinois, through Peoria across Illinois to Logansport, Indiana. TP&W has trackage rights between Galesburg, Illinois, and Peoria, between Logansport and Kokomo, Indiana, and between Reynolds, Indiana, and Lafayette, Indiana. TPW has connections with UP, BNSF, NS, CSXT, CN, CP, BL, CERA, CIM, KBSR and T&P. The railroad is now owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The railroad's traffic comes largely from agricultural products, including both raw and processed grain products, as well as chemicals and completed tractors. The TPW hauled around 26,000 carloads in 2008.
The Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (T&P) is a short-line railroad, running entirely in Peoria County and Tazewell County, Illinois, and formed by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. to lease the assets of the century-old Peoria and Pekin Union Railway (P&PU), which is owned by Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern and Canadian National. It switches close to 100,000 cars per year and has about 142 miles of track. Genesee & Wyoming owns 81 miles of TZPR and can hold up to 286,000 pounds of supplies.
The Indiana Southern Railroad is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property, and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.
The Carolina Piedmont Railroad is a class III railroad and subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc. operating in the Upstate region of South Carolina. From an interchange with CSX Transportation at Laurens the railroad runs 34 miles (55 km) to the northwest, terminating at East Greenville.
The Ohio Central Railroad System is a network of ten short line railroads operating in Ohio and western Pennsylvania. It is owned by Genesee & Wyoming
The Columbus & Ohio River Railroad is a railroad in the U.S. state of Ohio owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
Columbus and Chattahoochee Railroad is a 26-mile-long (42 km) freight railroad running from Girard, Alabama, to Mahrt, Alabama, and has shared trackage rights with the Norfolk Southern to use the track between NS Columbus yard in Columbus, Georgia, and Girard, Alabama. This track runs concurrent with 9th St. in downtown Columbus and is shared as part of the designated yard limits for Columbus Yard. CHH interchanges with the Norfolk Southern at Columbus Yard. Locomotives are kept at the yard and crew office for Georgia Southwestern Railroad yard in Columbus.