The M&B Railroad , formerly the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad, was a

Class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

that operates 189 miles of railroad from Meridian, Mississippi eastward to Burkville, Alabama. Additionally, the M&B has

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...

over

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

from Burkeville to

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. MNBR operates with 286,000-pound railcar loading capacity.

History

The M&B was chartered on December 24, 1926. Construction advanced eastward to Cromwell, Alabama in April 1928, and finally to Myrtlewood, Alabama where it connected with the L&N in 1935. The railroad operated with steam locomotives until 1953. Today, engine #116, a 2-8-0 Consolidation built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1917 originally for the

Susquehanna and New York Railroad The Susquehanna and New York Railroad Ian Cranstone(compiled from Official Railway Equipment Registers), accessed June 2009 was a short-line railroad connecting the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Towanda, Pennsylvania, with the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

is the only surviving M&B steam locomotive left. It is currently on display at Highland Park in Meridian. In 2003 the M&B took over the ex-L&N line from Myrtlewood to Selma, Alabama and the ex-

Western Railway of Alabama The Western Railway of Alabama (WRA) also seen as "WofA" was created as the Western Railroad of Alabama by the owners of the Montgomery & West Point Railroad (M&WP) in 1860. It was built to further the M&WP's development West from Montgomery, Ala ...

line from Selma to Burkville. CSX retained ownership between Montgomery and Burkville, where there is a large industrial customer. In 2005, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. acquired MNBR. In 2007, the line gained publicity when a train hauling parts of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

solid rocket booster derailed on an overloaded bridge weakened by heavy rains. Between 2018-2022, more than $21 million of investments were made in MNBR, including improvements at Naheola Yard and Meridian Yard. The Meridian Yard improvements were the result of a public-private partnership between Mississippi Department of Transportation and MNBR. During that period, more than 99,000 new crossties and switch ties were installed. More than $7 million was invested to improve grade crossings and to repair and upgrade bridges along the line. Sometime this year 2023 or in 2024, Canadian Pacific Kansas City is expected to purchase 50 miles of MNBR-owned tracks between Meridian and Myrtlewood, AL, while

will acquire the currently leased tracks running east from Myrtlewood to Burkville, AL. The agreement between CSX and CPKC was announced on June 28, 2023 and if finalized, will allow for one more connection between the load points currently served by CPKC in Texas and Mexico and CSX's network covering much of the Southeast. In compensation, Genesee & Wyoming will receive certain Canadian properties by CPKC that will allow it to expand service in Alberta at one of its other small railroads. And the MNBR will be allowed to continue providing service to some of its local customers along the route. This new connection between CPKC and CSX will provide a new competitive option, along with CPKC's connection has with

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

at Meridian, Mississippi. Twenty years ago there was also an attempted joint purchase by KCS and CSX of the MNBR line to connect the KCS and CSX rail networks. Said purchase attempt was quickly scrapped for fear of angering

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

and

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

, the two dominant railroads in the west, who did not want the two great railroads to the east (CSX and Norfolk Southern) to do business with KCS."CPKC-CSX deal over Meridian & Bigbee shortcut finally realizes Mike Haverty’s vision: Analysis"
(10 July 2023). '' trains.com Trains Magazine''. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

References

External links

Meridian and Bigbee Railroad official webpage - Genesee and Wyoming website
Alabama railroads Mississippi railroads Genesee & Wyoming {{US-rail-company-stub