MidSouth Rail Corporation

Last updated
MidSouth Rail Corporation
Overview
Headquarters Jackson, Mississippi
Reporting mark MSRC
Locale Mississippi
Dates of operation19861993
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The MidSouth Rail Corporation( reporting mark MSRC) is a railroad line operated by Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) as a result of the January 1, 1994, acquisition; KCS began operating over MidSouth's line on January 11, 1994. [1] The line ran from Shreveport, Louisiana, going east across Louisiana, and across the state of Mississippi, running through the cities of Vicksburg, Jackson, Meridian, and Artesia, Mississippi, then across the Alabama state line to Tuscaloosa, and finally (via Norfolk Southern Railway trackage rights) into Birmingham. Midsouth had two other branches, with one to Counce, Tennessee, and a disconnected line from Gulfport to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Total mileage was 1,212 miles (1,951 km) worth of mostly former Illinois Central Gulf's east-west Shreveport - Meridian main line.

Contents

Operations

On March 31, 1986, MidSouth Rail Corp. was created to purchase 373 miles (600 km) of Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG), with start up operations on April 1, 1986. Edward L. Moyers served as the railroad's first president. [2] MSRC was mostly the ex-ICG route between Meridian, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana, with the earliest segment of this line being built in 1833 by the Clinton and Vicksburg Railroad. On September 8, 1987, MSRC acquired the North Louisiana and Gulf Railroad and its subsidiary, Central Louisiana and Gulf Railroad, These properties were combined as subsidiary MidLouisiana Rail Corporation.

On April 14, 1988, MidSouth merged with the Gulf and Mississippi Railroad, itself an ICG spinoff. MSRC operated this property under the name of SouthRail.

Kansas City Southern takeover

On January 11, 1994, Kansas City Southern Railway took over operations of all of Midsouth Rail Corp.'s lines, creating its Meridian Corridor to connect with the Norfolk Southern Railway. [1]

Related Research Articles

Kansas City Southern Railway American transport company

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. KCS hauls freight for seven major government and business sectors: agriculture and minerals, military, automotive, chemical and petroleum, energy, industrial and consumer products and intermodal.

Kansas City Southern (company) American railroad holding company

Kansas City Southern (KCS) is a Delaware-registered pure transportation holding company with railroad investments in the United States, Mexico, and Panama.

Illinois Central Railroad American railroad

The Illinois Central Railroad, sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa (1870). There was a significant branch to Omaha, Nebraska (1899), west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and another branch reaching Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), starting from Cherokee, Iowa. The Sioux Falls branch has been abandoned in its entirety.

Alabama Southern Railroad

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 Kansas City Southern Railway. It began operating in 2005.

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis

The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. It is co-owned by several Class I railroads that reach the city.

The Meridian Speedway is a 320-mile (510 km) span of railroad track between Meridian, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana. An important rail link between the Southeast and Southwest U.S., it is owned by the Meridian Speedway LLC (MSLLC), a joint venture of Kansas City Southern (KCS), the majority partner; and Alabama Great Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Railway (NS).

Queen and Crescent Route

The Queen and Crescent Route was a cooperative railroad route in the Southeastern U.S., connecting Cincinnati with New Orleans and Shreveport. Inaugurated in the 1880s, the name was retained by Southern Railway when they consolidated ownership of the entire route in 1926, and given to their named passenger train for the route through 1949.

The Alabama Great Southern Railroad is a railroad in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It is an operating subsidiary of the Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS), running southwest from Chattanooga to New Orleans through Birmingham and Meridian. The AGS also owns about a 30% interest in the Kansas City Southern-controlled Meridian-Shreveport Meridian Speedway.

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 Vicksburg Southern Railroad is a Shortline railroad in and near Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States, owned by Watco. It connects with the Kansas City Southern Railway's Meridian Speedway in Vicksburg, and stretches north to Redwood and south to Cedars. The line was once part of a main line between Memphis and New Orleans, completed by the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway, a predecessor of the Illinois Central Railroad, in about 1884. The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad sold the remaining portions near Vicksburg, along with the present Meridian Speedway, to the MidSouth Rail Corporation in 1986, and in 1993 the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) gained control of MidSouth, subsequently absorbing it. The newly created Vicksburg Southern leased the lines from KCS in January 2006.

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.

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.

Ripley and New Albany Railroad

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.

Edward L. Moyers, Jr. was an American railroad executive of the 20th century. He served as president and CEO of several railroads including MidSouth Rail, Illinois Central Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1995, Railway Age magazine named Moyers its "Railroader of the Year".

The Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railway was chartered as the Vicksburg, Shreveport, & Texas Railroad Company with an east and west division on April 28, 1853, to be a link, via a transfer boat, between Vicksburg, Mississippi, Shreveport, Louisiana, and points west.

The Southwestern Limited was a night train, as #205 of the Illinois Central Railroad in the Southeastern United States. Running on the IC subsidiary Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Vicksburg Division, from Meridian, Mississippi's Union Station to Shreveport, Louisiana, it was one of the few trains spanning the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, Missouri and north of New Orleans, Louisiana.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Kansas City Southern Lines". Kansas City Southern Historical Society. Retrieved January 4, 2007.
  2. Cuff, Daniel F. (March 20, 1989). "BUSINESS PEOPLE; Illinois Central Leader Part of Railroad Family". New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2014.