Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Mobile, Alabama |
Locale | Southern United States |
Dates of operation | 1890–1909 |
Predecessor | New Orleans, Mobile and Chicago Railroad, New Orleans Great Northern Railway |
Successor | Gulf, Mobile and Ohio |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Length | 827 miles (1,331 km) in 1940 |
The Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City Railroad Company (MJ&KC) was established in 1890 in Mobile, Alabama. By 1898 the line reached the Pascagoula River at Merrill, Mississippi. The railroad had 50 miles of trackage in 1900 and reached Hattiesburg, Mississippi, via the Bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern Railroad in 1902.
Several mergers resulted in the MJ&KC finally emerging as the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad
On July 1, 1903, the MJ&KC leased the Gulf & Chicago Railroad. This line came into being after buying the Ship Island, Ripley & Kentucky (from Middleton, Tennessee 25 miles to Ripley, Mississippi), and the northern division Gulf & Ship Island line between Ripley and Pontotoc (37 miles). In 1906, about the time the railroad route was completed, the company went into bankruptcy. By March 1907 there were 402 miles of tracks and 154 sawmills along the route. In 1909, after coming out of receivership, the MJ&KC and Gulf & Chicago Railroad merged to form the New Orleans, Mobile & Chicago Railroad. A 1917 reorganization resulted in the forming of the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad (GM&N). [1] In 1929 the Meridian & Memphis and the Jackson & Eastern railroads merged into the GM&N. In 1933 the GM&N leased the New Orleans and Great Northern Railroad (NOGN). From 1935 through 1937 the line ran three Rebel streamlined diesel-electric trains between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Jackson, Tennessee. In 1940 the GM&O merged with the Mobile & Ohio (M&O) forming the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. [2] [3]
Below is a list of towns and communities on the rail line from 1904 to 1907, [4] [5]
In Beaumont the tracks turned northward towards Tennessee.
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located 70 miles (110 km) east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee combined statistical area. Jackson is Madison County's largest city, and the second-largest city in West Tennessee after Memphis. It is home to the Tennessee Supreme Court's courthouse for West Tennessee, as Jackson was the major city in the west when the court was established in 1834.
The Illinois Central Railroad, sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Another line connected Chicago west to Sioux City, Iowa (1870), while smaller branches reached Omaha, Nebraska (1899) from Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), from Cherokee, Iowa. The IC also ran service to 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 Alabama Southern Railroad is a class III railroad that operates in the southern United States. The ABS is one of several short line railroads owned by Watco. The railroad operates an 85-mile (137 km) line leased from the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). It began operating in 2005.
The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile, Alabama and the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois. On September 13, 1940, it was merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad to form the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
The Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad was a railroad in the Southern United States. The first World War had forced government operation upon the company; and in 1919, when it became once more a free agent, it chose Isaac B. Tigrett to chart its new course. Tigrett, a native of Jackson, Tennessee, was president of the GM&N from 1920 and of its successor, the GM&O, from 1938 to 1952, and oversaw the development of the road from a nearly bankrupt operation into a thriving success. He was the great-uncle of Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett, also a native of Jackson.
William Harris Hardy was an American businessman who founded the Mississippi cities of Hattiesburg, Laurel, and Gulfport.
Mobile station was a train station in Mobile, Alabama. It was built in 1956 and demolished in 2007.
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 Gulf Coast Limited was a passenger train service operated by Amtrak along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It ran daily between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, with stops in Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi, and Pascagoula, Mississippi. The route first operated in 1984–1985, and again in 1996–1997.
The Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad Rebels were lightweight, streamlined diesel-electric trains built by American Car and Foundry. The first two trains, purchased in 1935, provided service over the roughly 450 miles (720 km) between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Jackson, Tennessee. The third train, purchased in 1937, allowed service to be added between Jackson and Mobile, Alabama. Unlike other earlier diesel streamliners, these trains were not articulated, as their normal operation required adding and removing cars from the consist.
The Gulf and Mississippi Railroad was the first regional railroad in the United States upon its creation in 1985. With over 713 miles (1,147 km) of track in the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama it was among the largest spin-off railroads in the post-Staggers Act era. MidSouth Rail acquired the entire G&M railroad in 1988, operating it as a separate entity, SouthRail. Kansas City Southern purchased MidSouth Rail in 1994 and most of the former G&M lines are still in service under KCS.
The Gulf and Ship Island Railroad (G&SI) was constructed in the state of Mississippi, USA, at the turn of the 20th century to open a vast expanse of southern yellow pine forests for commercial harvest. In spite of economic uncertainty, entrepreneurs William H. Hardy and Joseph T. Jones successfully completed railroad construction. The railroad resulted in the development of a seaport and expansion of cities along its route.
The Ripley & New Albany Railroad is a 27-mile long (43 km) shortline railroad that runs from New Albany to Falkner, Mississippi, and previously extended from Houston, Mississippi, to Middleton, Tennessee, along former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad trackage. RNA interchanges with the BNSF Railway in New Albany, Mississippi. It primarily hauls lumber products and Oil-Dri.
The Tanglefoot Trail is an asphalt-covered rail trail in northeastern Mississippi. Ranging 43.6 miles (70.2 km) in the right-of-way of the Ripley and New Albany Railroad, it is the longest rail-trail in the state. It runs through three counties and is located within the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area.
The First Mississippi Cavalry Regiment was a unit of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Originally designated the First Battalion Mississippi Cavalry, the unit was upgraded to a regiment in 1862, and fought in many battles of the Western theater of the American Civil War.
Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. Co. v. Mississippi, 210 U.S. 187 (1908)