Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Rail transport |
Founded | 1973 |
Founder | Richard J. Corman |
Headquarters | Nicholasville, Kentucky, U.S. |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Ed Quinn (President) |
Services |
|
Revenue | US$ 300 million (FY 2011) [1] |
Number of employees | Approx. 1600 |
Website | www |
R. J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC is a privately owned railroad services and short line operating company headquartered in Nicholasville, Kentucky, with field locations in 22 states. It was owned by Richard J. Corman, who established the company in 1973, and ran it until his death on August 23, 2013. The company owns nineteen short-line railroads spanning Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
The company serves all six Class I railroads, many regional and short line railroads as well as various rail-served industries. These operations encompass an array of services, including: railroad construction, short line railroad operations, industrial switching services, emergency response, track material logistics, distribution centers, signal design and construction, and an excursion dinner train.
R. J. Corman Railroad Construction was founded in 1973, by Richard J. Corman. In 1983, R. J. Corman Derailment Services was founded and opened its first division in Columbus, Ohio. From 1997 to 2000, eight more Derailment Services divisions were opened across the Northeast and Midwest U.S.
The company's original headquarters, Jay Station, was completed and opened in Nicholasville, Kentucky. The property was dedicated to Rick's father, Jay Corman.
R. J. Corman began operating short line railroads in 1987, with the purchase of the Bardstown Line and the Memphis Line. The company continued to acquire and rehabilitate many lines throughout the 1990s. They've reopened many railbanked lines, and, in 2008, began work to reopen a fully-abandoned non-railbanked corridor in Pennsylvania to serve a new industrial park, landfill and quarry. [2] [3]
The Bardstown Line became home to My Old Kentucky Dinner Train, which made its inaugural run in 1989.
In 1990, R. J. Corman's first Distribution Center was opened in South Union, Kentucky.
R. J. Corman Material Sales began in 1994, after the company agreed to begin serving as Conrail's full-service track and rail material distributor.
In 2001, R. J. Corman launched its Railroad Switching company.
From 2003 to 2004, R. J. Corman's runway, Lucas Field, was constructed in Nicholasville, Kentucky. With that project's completion, R. J. Corman Aircraft Maintenance was launched.
R. J. Corman Railroad Group announced on June 18, 2009, that it had acquired the assets of Railpower Technologies Corp and its U.S. subsidiary, Railpower Hybrid Technologies. [4]
Fortune Magazine released a feature story on Rick Corman, an American classic self-made success.
On April 1, 2013, R. J. Corman Signaling was formed and began operations.
Rick Corman died on August 23, 2013, after an 11-year battle with multiple myeloma (cancer).
R. J. Corman operates the following subsidiaries: [5]
R. J. Corman offers services such as: railroad construction, short line railroad operations, industrial switching services, emergency response, track material logistics, distribution centers, signal design and construction, and an excursion dinner train, My Old Kentucky Dinner Train.
The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, chartered in Nashville on December 11, 1845, built to 5 ft gauge and was the first railway to operate in the state of Tennessee. By the turn of the twentieth century, the NC&StL grew into one of the most important railway systems in the southern United States.
The Nashville and Eastern Railroad is a shortline railroad which administers 137 miles (220 km) of track between Nashville and Monterey, Tennessee, of which 130 miles (210 km) are currently operational. The company is based in Lebanon, Tennessee.
The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company also seen as "GARR", was a historic railroad and banking company that operated in the U.S. state of Georgia. In 1967 it reported 833 million revenue-ton-miles of freight and 3 million passenger-miles; at the end of the year it operated 331 miles (533 km) of road and 510 miles (820 km) of track.
The Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad (MC&L) was a railway in the southern United States. It was chartered in Tennessee in 1852, and opened in 1859. The MC&L entered receivership after the American Civil War, and financial troubles led to an 11-day strike in 1868 that ended when Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) leased the line. L&N finally purchased the MC&L in 1871 and operated it as its Memphis Branch. L&N was merged into CSX, and CSX sold the former MC&L line to R.J. Corman Railroad Group in 1987, becoming that company's Memphis Line.
Carolina Southern Railroad was located off of Main Street in Conway, South Carolina, and was one of the few remaining train depots/lines in South Carolina. The railroad was originally erected in late 1886 and the first train steamed into the Conway Depot in December 1887. R.J. Corman Railroad Group took over the operations in 2015.
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 Cincinnati Northern Railroad was a railroad that stretched from Franklin, Ohio, north to Jackson, Michigan, a distance of about 186 miles (299 km). It was acquired by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway in 1901 and the New York Central Railroad several years later. Most of the line has since been abandoned.
R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines is a railroad in the R.J. Corman Railroad Group, operating a number of lines in central Pennsylvania. It primarily carries coal between mines and Norfolk Southern Railway connections at Cresson and Keating. The trackage was acquired from Conrail in 1996, when the latter company sold its "Clearfield Cluster"; Norfolk Southern acquired nearby Conrail lines in 1999. This is the longest R.J. Corman owned line, at over 300 miles in length.
Richard Jay Corman was the founder and owner of R. J. Corman Railroad Group, a Nicholasville, Kentucky-based railroad services and short line operating company.
The Bardstown station, also known as Old L & N Station, is a historic railroad station on the National Register of Historic Places in the northernmost section of the Bardstown Historic District of Bardstown, Kentucky. Long owned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N), it is currently used as the station for the My Old Kentucky Dinner Train, owned by the R.J. Corman Railroad Group.
The Waccamaw Coast Line Railroad was a 14.1-mile (22.7 km) short-line railroad division of the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad, extending from a connection with the Carolina Southern Railroad, another division of that company, at Conway to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The line was opened in 1900 by the Conway Coast and Western Railroad, a predecessor of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. The Seaboard System Railroad sold the line to Horry County in November 1984, and it was operated by the Horry County Railway until October 1987, when the WCLR took over. The Carolina Southern Railroad acquired the WCLR in September 1995, and operated until both its lines and WCLR's line ceased operations. In 2015, RJ Corman took control of the Carolina Southern and all of its trackage and rehabilitated it as the R.J. Corman Carolina Lines.
Knoxville, Cumberland Gap and Louisville Railroad (1888–1889) was a railroad which went across the U.S. state of Tennessee and into Kentucky. It was built in the late 1880s and used for industrial purposes.
The Lehigh Railway is a shortline railroad in Wyoming County and Bradford County, Pennsylvania. It connects to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in Mehoopany and to Norfolk Southern in Athens, just south of Sayre. It operates a total of 56 miles of track along the Susquehanna River. Since 2020, the railroad has been operated by the R.J. Corman Railroad Group as its Lehigh Line.
The Lexington and Ohio Railroad was a shortline railroad formerly operating between a connection with Norfolk Southern at Lexington to Versailles, Kentucky, about 15 miles (24 km). Upon its 1996 startup the railroad was a Gulf & Ohio subsidiary, the railroad was later sold R.J. Corman Railroad Group, who has operated the line as R. J. Corman Railroad/Central Kentucky Lines since 2003.
The Conway Seashore Railroad was a South Carolina, US, railroad that operated in the early 20th century. It ran from Conway southeast to Myrtle Beach.
The Dawkins Line Rail Trail is an 18-mile (29.0 km) rail trail in Johnson and Magoffin Counties in Kentucky. The multi-use trail, suitable for biking, walking, and horseback riding, occupies an abandoned rail corridor that was constructed in the early 20th century for the Dawkins Lumber Company. It is the longest rail trail in Kentucky.
The Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation (KSHCO) is a nonprofit organization based on the border between Irvine and Ravenna, Kentucky. The organization mainly focuses on the restoration of Chesapeake and Ohio K-4 2-8-4 steam locomotive No. 2716 along with other vintage railroad equipment. The organization has plans of turning the surrounding area into its own tourist attraction called the Kentucky Rail Heritage Center through a partnership with the R.J. Corman Railroad Group and CSX Transportation.
The Cornwall Railroad, formerly the North Lebanon Railroad, was a railway company in the state of Pennsylvania. It was incorporated in 1850 and opened its initial line between Lebanon and Cornwall, Pennsylvania, in 1855. The Reading Company bought the Cornwall Railroad in 1968. The line passed to Conrail on the Reading's bankruptcy in 1976 and has since been abandoned. The line ran parallel to that of the Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad, later part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system.