Pinsly Railroad Company (1938–2023)

Last updated
Pinsly Railroad Company
Industry Rail transport
Founded1938;86 years ago (1938)
FounderSamuel M. Pinsly
Headquarters
Subsidiaries
Website www.pinsly.com

Pinsly Railroad Company, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, was a short line railroad holding company. It was one of the oldest such companies in the United States, and has owned railroads continuously since its founding in 1938. As of 2022 Pinsly's sole railroad subsidiary is the Pioneer Valley Railroad in Massachusetts. [1] In August 2023, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners reached an agreement with Pinsly to acquire the railroad through its subsidiary Gulf & Atlantic Railways. [2]

Contents

History

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1899, Samuel M. Pinsly received degrees in engineering and law from Northwestern University before briefly serving in the U.S. Army during World War I. Pinsly founded his shortline operating company in 1938 with the purchase of the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad from his father-in-law, fellow shortline operator H.E. Salzberg. While the line was rebuilt and turned a profit, extensive line relocations due to a new dam forced the railroad to be abandoned in 1971. [3] Pinsly went on to acquire a number of lines throughout New England and the Southeast until his death in 1977. [1] He was succeeded by Marjorie "Maggie" Silver, one of the first women to own a railroad company in the United States. [1]

Pinsly sold their 3 Florida shortlines (Florida Central Railroad, Florida Midland Railroad and Florida Northern Railroad) to 3i RR Holdings GP, LLC and subsidiaries (d.b.a. "Regional Rail, LLC") in November 2019. [4] Pinsly's business development manager stated in 2022 that the company sold off its other subsidiaries to focus exclusively on the Pioneer Valley Railroad. [1] Pinsly additionally owns Railroad Distribution Services, a company which handles distribution and transloading. [1]

Historic list of Pinsly railroads

These are the railroads that were once under the common ownership of Pinsly, listed in order of acquisition.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Stabile, Lori (March 7, 2022). "Pioneer Valley Railroad in Westfield Logs Continued Growth in Freight Rail Service: Outlook 2022". MassLive. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  2. "Macquarie Infrastructure Partners to acquire Massachusetts short line". Trains News Wire. August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  3. Hartley 2017 , p. 44
  4. 1 2 3 4 "STB Notice of Exemption 47348 (Docket FD-36365)" (PDF). Surface Transportation Board. November 22, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  5. "Genesee & Wyoming Completes Acquisition of Pinsly Arkansas Railroads". Genesee & Wyoming Inc. January 5, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2017. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) (NYSE:GWR) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Pinsly Railroad Company's Arkansas Division ("Pinsly Arkansas") for approximately $40 million in cash, subject to adjustment for final working capital.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay Line Railroad</span> Class III railroad in Southeastern United States

The Bay Line Railroad is one of several short line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates between Panama City, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via trackage rights on CSX's Dothan Subdivision between Dothan and Grimes. The line interchanges with CSX at Cottondale, Florida and Dothan, Alabama, and with the Hilton & Albany Railroad at Hilton, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bauxite and Northern Railway</span> Railroad in the United States

The Bauxite & Northern Railway is a Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Arkansas. BXN operates over 7 miles (11 km) of track in Bauxite, Arkansas. Traffic consists of largely of alumina, and the railroad hauls 4,059 carloads per year. In 2005, the railroad was purchased by holding company RailAmerica. In December 2012, Genesee & Wyoming acquired the railroad in its acquisition of RailAmerica. As of 2023, Bauxite & Northern Railway interchanges with Union Pacific in Bauxite, Arkansas and can hold up to 286,000 pounds of supplies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad</span> Class III railroad

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren and Saline River Railroad</span>

The Warren and Saline River Railroad is an 8-mile (13 km) short-line railroad connecting Cloquet, Arkansas to the Arkansas Midland Railroad at Warren. It has always been independent of larger carriers, and was previously owned by the Potlatch Corporation, a lumber company, until January 2010. WSR is currently operated by the Arkansas Midland Railroad and was sold by Pinsly Railroad Company to sold to Genesee & Wyoming Industries in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prescott and Northwestern Railroad</span>

The Prescott and Northwestern Railroad is a short-line railroad headquartered in Prescott, Arkansas. It is operated by Arkansas Midland Railroad, which is owned by Genesee & Wyoming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Notch Railroad</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiregrass Central Railroad</span>

The Wiregrass Central Railroad is a shortline railroad operating 19.5 miles (31.4 km) of track from a CSX Transportation connection at Waterford, near Newton, to Enterprise, Alabama via the south side of Fort Novosel. The company was initially a subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways and began operations in 1987 following the purchase of the Enterprise Subdivision branch line of CSX Transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Southern Railroad</span> Freight railroad in Connecticut and Massachusetts

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valdosta Railway</span>

The Valdosta Railway is a shortline railroad in the U.S. state of Georgia, connecting Clyattville to CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway at Valdosta. The company began operations in 1992 as a subsidiary of the Rail Management and Consulting Corporation, and was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad</span>

The Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad (HTW) was an interstate shortline railroad running north–south between southwestern Vermont and northwestern Massachusetts. It ran from Wilmington, Vermont to Rowe, Massachusetts, a distance of approximately 25 miles (40 km). In Rowe, passengers could transfer to the east–west mainline of the Fitchburg Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf and Ohio Railways</span> American railroad holding company

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas Midland Railroad (1992)</span> American Class III short-line railroad

The Arkansas Midland Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Malvern, Arkansas.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Valley Railroad</span> Railroad in Massachusetts

The Pioneer Valley Railroad, founded in 1982, is a Class III short line freight railroad operating the former Conrail trackage in the western part of Massachusetts in towns of Westfield, Holyoke, and Southampton. The railroad has been owned by the Pinsly Railroad Company since its founding, with headquarters in Westfield, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Carolina Central Railroad</span> Railroad in South Carolina, USA

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concord and Claremont Railroad</span> American railroad company

The Concord and Claremont Railroad was an American railroad company during the mid-nineteenth century in New Hampshire spanning from Concord to Claremont.

H.E. Salzberg Company was a scrap dealer and operator of a group of shortline railroads and bus lines throughout the eastern United States. Headquartered in New York City, the company was primarily in the business of dismantling abandoned railroads and processing the valuable steel rails for scrap. The company was founded by Harry Salzberg in the 1890s. After his death in 1948, his son Murray M. Salzberg became the head of the company. Aside from operating the scrap company and the shortline railroads, Salzberg was also owner of Queens Transit Corporation and Steinway Transit Corporation in Queens, New York, and was also on the board of the reorganized Central Railroad of New Jersey beginning in 1979.

Pinsly Railroad Company, formerly known as Gulf & Atlantic Railways, is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns and operates 6 railroads in the United States. Pinsly has a rail network of a 762-miles.

References