The Alabama Southern Railroad is a

class III railroad Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With a ...

that operates in the southern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The ABS is one of several short line railroads owned by

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) Watco is an American transportation and logistics company based in Pittsburg, Kansas. The company’s core services are freight transportation, material handling and storage, logistics, railcar repair and maintena ...

. The railroad operates an line leased from the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). It began operating in 2005.

History

The railroad began operating on November 20, 2005 on lines leased from the Kansas City Southern Railway. The line was originally constructed by the

Mobile & Ohio Railroad Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

which was purchased through a

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

sale by the

Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio was a Class I railroad in the central United States whose primary routes extended from Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Chicago, Illinois. From its two pa ...

(GM&O) on August 1, 1940. The GM&O merged with the

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, the Great Lak ...

on August 10, 1972, resulting in the

Illinois Central Gulf Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

. On March 31, 1986, MidSouth Rail purchased of track, which included this line, from the Illinois Central Gulf. On January 1, 1994, the

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...

bought out Midsouth Rail.

Lines

The Alabama Southern's line is composed of three Kansas City Southern branch lines totaling : *The Tuscaloosa Subdivision (Columbus–Tuscaloosa) *The Warrior Branch (Tuscaloosa– Fox, Alabama) *The Brookwood Branch (

Brookwood, Alabama Brookwood is a city in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in September 1977. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town is 2,504. History 2001 mine disaster On September 23, 2001, two separate explosions occu ...

–Brookwood Junction). The line runs between Columbus and Brookwood, with trackage rights over the Kansas City Southern from Columbus to

Artesia, Mississippi Artesia is a town in Lowndes County, Mississippi. The population was 304 at the 2020 census, down from 440 at the 2010 census. History Artesia was originally ''Artesia Junction'', a junction point on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. During the rai ...

. The railroad interchanges with the KCSR at Artesia,

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

in Brookwood, and the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

in Tuscaloosa.

References

Notes

Alabama Southern Rail Map

Trains.com
Information on MidSouth Rail * SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America – Southern States by Mike Walker (Steam Powered Publishing & SPV, 2001) Ownership and detail of rail line.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alabama Southern Railroad 2005 establishments in Alabama Alabama railroads Mississippi railroads Railway companies established in 2005 Spin-offs of the Kansas City Southern Railway Watco

History

Lines

See also

References

Notes

External links