Industry | Rail Transport |
---|---|
Founded | 1985 |
Founder | Pete Claussen |
Headquarters | Knoxville, Tennessee |
Area served | Southern United States |
Website | www |
Gulf & Ohio Railways is a holding company for four different short-line railroads in the Southern United States, as well as a tourist-oriented passenger train, and locomotive leasing and repair service through Knoxville Locomotive Works. Gulf & Ohio maintains its corporate headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The company owns railroads carrying a wide variety of commodities, generating around 40,000 annual carloads over approximately 225 miles of track. [1]
Gulf & Ohio Railways was founded by Pete Claussen concurrent with the start up of the first G&O shortline, the Mississippi Delta Railroad in 1985. The Alabama & Florida and Wiregrass Central soon followed as the next additions to the Gulf & Ohio network, beginning operations in 1986 and 1987 respectively. [2]
The company continued modest expansion throughout the 1990s, acquiring new railroads in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. These new additions included the Atlantic & Gulf in 1991, the H&S in 1992, the Nash County Railroad in 1994, and the Georgia & Florida in 1995. [2] Also in 1994, Gulf & Ohio would further expand its presence in North Carolina by acquiring both the Yadkin Valley Railroad and Laurinburg & Southern. [3] Growth continued with the acquisition in 1996 of the Lexington & Ohio in Kentucky and expansion into Tennessee with the Knoxville & Holston River Railroad in 1998. [4]
The 1990s also saw the sale and transfer of some G&O lines to other operators, including the Alabama & Florida railroad on November 23, 1992, to Pioneer Railcorp, [2] and on April 30, 1999, Gulf & Ohio sold two of its railroads to North American RailNet, which combined both—the Atlantic & Gulf and the Georgia & Florida—into a single entity, Georgia & Florida Railnet. [5] [6] This sale effectively ended the G&O presence in Florida, as well as ending their presence in Georgia until 2003.
In June 2001 Gulf & Ohio terminated operations on the Mississippi Delta railroad as the line was turned over to local interests - ending the G&O presence in Mississippi. [7] During the same period, the Three Notch Railroad began operations over part of the Alabama & Florida regained by Gulf & Ohio after being sold in 1992. [8] Also in 2001, the Southern Alabama Railroad was acquired and renamed the Conecuh Valley Railroad. [9]
2003 brought additional changes to Gulf & Ohio, including the creation of the Chattahoochee & Gulf Railroad from former Norfolk Southern tracks in March [10] concurrent with the sale of the Lexington & Ohio to R.J. Corman Railroad Company. [11] In 2005, Gulf & Ohio began operating the Morehead & South Fork at the port of Morehead City, North Carolina. [12]
In 2006 Gulf & Ohio sold the H&S and the Chattahoochee & Gulf railroads to shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Both divisions were subsequently consolidated into a single operation, the Chattahoochee Bay Railroad. [13] On February 1, 2010, the lease on the Morehead & South Fork was acquired by the Carolina Coastal Railway and was no longer operated by Gulf & Ohio. [14]
Knoxville became the center of Gulf & Ohio operations, with a locomotive shop, corporate headquarters, and special tourist excursions all based in the city. The company's corporate headquarters are located in the restored James Park House in the city's downtown area. The company continued to acquire and sell subsidiary railroads, with its presence eventually contained to three states; Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee. [15]
Gulf & Ohio extended its presence into South Carolina in November 2010 with the acquisition of the Lancaster and Chester Railway, an independent railroad. [16] [17] [18] In April 2011, RailAmerica announced its plans to purchase three Gulf & Ohio subsidiaries in Alabama for $12.7 million. If successful, it would end the Gulf & Ohio presence in the state. [19] That sale was completed in 2011, and the Nash County Railroad was sold to the CLNA in 2011 as well, and continues operations under the CLNA mark. [20]
In 2016, G&O leased a railroad it coined the Kinston & Snow Hill Railroad from N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to serve a 2,500 acre industrial park in Kinston, North Carolina. It moved the Lancaster and Chester EMD SW900 to the new operation, but revenue freight proved erratic at best. In 2022, the lease was transferred to Kinston Railroad (KNR), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jaguar Transport Holdings. [21]
Initially each subsidiary railroad had its own stylized herald for the cab section and short hood. However the early railroads shared a bright red paint scheme and distinctive large white unit numbers applied near the end of the long hood. [22] Further development of the paint scheme brought about a common logo in the form of a simple black circular herald with a yellow border. The new logo was placed below the cab windows and featured a stylized version of the railroad name and initials within. [23]
Concurrent with the 1995 acquisition of the Georgia & Florida railroad, the company changed its color scheme from bright red with road specific stylized logos to a flat black color featuring the corporate logo. The iconic large white numbers on the long hood remained, although they were now placed closer to the center as opposed to the end. With the influx of flat black GP10 locomotives from the Illinois Central and GP38s from Norfolk Southern, it became uneconomical to repaint all of the new additions red. Furthermore, due to the frequent transfer of locomotives between different subsidiaries the corporate logo appeared with the railroad name in plain text featured either above or below the logo to simplify the process of re-lettering locomotives as they moved to a different property. [23]
RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada.
The Georgia and Florida Railway is a short line railroad operating in Georgia and Florida, and is a subsidiary of OmniTRAX. The railroad spans 297 miles (478 km) over numerous different rail lines, most of which radiate out of Albany, Georgia.
The Chattahoochee and Gulf Railroad was a short line railroad operating from 2003 to 2006 between Columbus, Georgia and Dothan, Alabama, on former Central of Georgia and Norfolk Southern tracks. Initially the railroad was a subsidiary of Gulf & Ohio Railways. In 2006, the railroad was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming and combined with the adjacent H and S Railroad out of Dothan to form the Chattahoochee Bay Railroad.
The Conecuh Valley Railway, L.L.C. connects with the CSX at Troy, Alabama, and travels 15.04 miles (24.20 km) to Goshen, Alabama. This short line railroad was created after 2001 from the former Southern Alabama Railroad and is currently owned and operated by Genesee & Wyoming.
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 Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway (SA&M) was a historic railroad located in the U.S. states of Georgia and Alabama. SA&M was built in the 1880s running between Montgomery, Alabama and Lyons, Georgia. It would be completed to Savannah, Georgia in 1896 after being renamed the Georgia and Alabama Railway. The line would notably become part of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad network in 1900.
The Three Notch Railroad runs from a connection with CSX Transportation at Georgiana to Andalusia, Alabama, 36 miles (58 km). This short line railroad was created in 2001 and is currently a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming.
The Heart of Georgia Railroad is a shortline railroad created in 1999 to lease and operate 177 miles (285 km) of track owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation between Mahrt, Alabama and Vidalia, Georgia, in the United States. The railroad has since expanded to include more than 233 miles (375 km) of track, reaching as far as Midville, Georgia. Initially only the portion from Rochelle to Preston, Georgia was utilized, with the Preston-Mahrt and Rochelle-Vidalia lines out of service. The Heart of Georgia also hosts the SAM passenger excursion train and is owned by parent company Atlantic Western Transportation Company.
The Yadkin Valley Railroad is the trade name of the Piedmont and Atlantic Railroad and is a shortline railroad operating two lines leased from the Norfolk Southern Railway originating out of Rural Hall, North Carolina for a distance of 93 miles (150 km). The railroad began operation in 1989 and is currently a subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways.
The Southern Alabama Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating between a connection with CSX Transportation at Troy to Goshen, Alabama, about 15 miles (24 km). The railroad currently exists as the Conecuh Valley Railroad subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways.
The Wilmington Terminal Railroad is a shortline railroad serving the Port of Wilmington. It began operations in 1986 over trackage owned by the North Carolina Ports Railway Commission, whose other lines were simultaneously leased to the Carolina Rail Services Company. The company is owned by Rail Link, Inc., a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., which acquired it from the Rail Management Corporation in 2005.
The West Tennessee Railroad is a shortline railroad in the Southern U.S., connecting Corinth, Mississippi, to Fulton, Kentucky, via western Tennessee. The company began operating in 1984 on a portion of the former Mobile and Ohio Railroad (M&O) main line between Jackson and Kenton, Tennessee. It significantly expanded operations in 2001 through the lease, from the Norfolk Southern Railway, of the ex-M&O south to Corinth and a former main line of the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) north to Fulton, as well as a branch from Jackson to Poplar Corner. All of these lines were part of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG) prior to its 1980s program of spin-offs, during which Gibson County purchased the Jackson-Kenton line and the Southern Railway acquired the Corinth-Fulton line and Poplar Corner branch.
The South Carolina Central Railroad is a class III railroad that operates 42 miles (68 km) of former CSX Transportation trackage in South Carolina. Originally a RailTex subsidiary upon its start in 1987, the railroad passed to RailAmerica following their acquisition of RailTex in 2000 and passed to the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad upon its acquisition of RailAmerica.
The Mississippi Delta Railroad is a shortline railroad company operating from Swan Lake to Jonestown, Mississippi, a distance of 60 miles (97 km); the railroad interchanges with the Canadian National at Swan Lake. Currently the railroad is owned by Coahoma County and was a former subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways shortline group. The current operator is Rock Island Rail.
The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad was a shortline railroad that previously operated 77 miles (124 km) of track between Thomasville and Sylvester, Georgia, via Albany. The Atlantic & Gulf was created in 1991 from former CSX tracks and currently exists as part of the Georgia & Florida Railway, a subsidiary of OmniTRAX.
The Greenville and Northern Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating between Travelers Rest and Greenville, South Carolina, 11.3 miles (18.2 km). The railroad was part of the Pinsly Railroad Company after 1957 before being purchased by RailTex in 1997. Operations ended in February 1998 and the railroad was abandoned in 2005.
The Georgia Great Southern Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating between Dawson and Albany, Georgia, 24.2 miles (38.9 km). The railroad was partially abandoned in 1994. RailTex consolidated its holdings in the area into the Georgia Southwestern in 1995, and the Georgia Great Southern ceased to exist as a separate railroad.
The Morehead and South Fork Railroad is a terminal switching railroad serving the port facilities of Morehead City, North Carolina and Radio Island with 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of track. Created in 2005 as a successor to Carolina Rail Services, the railroad was initially a Gulf & Ohio subsidiary before a change of contract in 2010 transferred operational responsibility to the Carolina Coastal Railway.
The Thermal Belt Railway is a Class III shortline railroad that operates for freight service on an irregular schedule on a former CSX line from Bostic to Forest City and on a former Norfolk Southern line from Forest City to Alexander Mills, North Carolina. Total mileage is 8.5 miles (13.7 km). Connections are made with CSX at Bostic. Rail is 85 pounds.
The Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroad, known as the Sumatra Leaf Route, and colloquially as the Gopher, Frog & Alligator was a 180 miles (290 km)-long railroad from Richland, Georgia to Carrabelle, Florida. It was founded in 1895 as a logging railroad, the Georgia Pine Railway.