The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of UP.
Farmrail System, Inc. is an employee-owned holding company for two Class III common-carrier railroads comprising "Western Oklahoma’s Regional Railroad" based in Clinton, Oklahoma. Farmrail Corporation (reporting mark FMRC) has acted since 1981 as a lessee-operator for Oklahoma Department of Transportation, managing an 82-mile east-west former Rock Island line between Weatherford and Erick and an additional 89 miles of former Santa Fe track, Westhorn-Elmer, acquired by the State in 1992 from the ATSF Railway. Another wholly owned affiliate, Grainbelt Corporation (GNBC), was formed in 1987 to buy 176 contiguous north-south route-miles linking Enid and Frederick.
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.
The Kiamichi Railroad Company is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Hugo, Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKT) was a railroad operating in its namesake states in the 1980s.
Hollis and Eastern Railroad was a shortline railroad which operated in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The railroad's tracks connected Duke to connections with the BNSF Railway, Farmrail and Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway at Altus, Oklahoma.
The Yellowstone Valley Railroad is a 171-mile (275 km) shortline railroad in northeastern Montana, also crossing into North Dakota. It operates two branch lines leased from the BNSF Railway in 2005 - Snowden to Glendive and Bainville to Scobey - connected by trackage rights over BNSF's Northern Transcon between Snowden and Bainville.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.
Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad (BNGR) is a short-line railroad headquartered in Blackwell, Oklahoma. It operates on tracks owned by the Blackwell Industrial Authority (BIA) and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT).
The Southwestern Railroad is a Class III railroad operating since 1990, and until 2017 consisted of two unconnected railroad sections in New Mexico, with no shared functions. These and a third section in the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma, now closed, all operated separately. Since January 2017, only the Whitewater Division is operated by Southwestern.
The Colorado Pacific Railroad is a shortline railroad operating on 122 miles (196 km) of former Missouri Pacific Railroad trackage in southeast Colorado. It interchanges with Union Pacific and BNSF at North Avondale Junction near Boone, and with the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad at Towner. It is sometimes referred to as the Towner Line or the Towner Railway.
The D&I Railroad (DAIR) is a Class III shortline railroad which is a wholly owned subsidiary of L. G. Everist, Inc. The line hauls ethanol, dried distillers grains (DDG), corn oil, plastic pellets, cement, sand, gravel, and Sioux Quartzite, which is mined from two large quarries in Dell Rapids.
The Timber Rock Railroad (TIBR) is a shortline rail carrier operating in the states of Texas and Louisiana. Its single line runs from Kirbyville, Texas to DeRidder, Louisiana, about 41.5 miles. It is owned by the Watco Companies.
The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, its affiliate the Northwestern Railway Company of Texas, and two subsidiaries collectively constructed a railway running from Wichita Falls, Texas through Altus, Oklahoma to Forgan, Oklahoma, with a branch running from Altus to Wellington, Texas. The network comprised 359.3 miles of track, and was collectively known as the Wichita Falls Route.
The Lawton, Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway was an effort around the time of Oklahoma statehood to build a railroad from Lawton, Oklahoma to Wichita Falls, Texas, about 100 miles. Despite a company being organized and bonds issued, no rails were actually laid.
The Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railway, together with its affiliate the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railroad of Oklahoma, built a line from Wichita Falls, Texas to Waurika, Oklahoma in two stages, starting in 1903 and completing in 1923. Results were disappointing, and the line was abandoned in late 1942.
The Texas and Oklahoma Railroad (TXOR), created in 1991, ran between Oklahoma and Texas on rail purchased from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF). Much of the trackage has since been sold or abandoned; however, the railway continues to exist as a shortline carrier operating between Sweetwater, Texas and Maryneal, Texas.
