The Bauxite & Northern Railway 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 ...

operating in the

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 ...

state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. BXN operates over of track in Bauxite, Arkansas. Traffic consists of largely of

alumina Aluminium oxide (or aluminium(III) oxide) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula . It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium oxide. It is commonly ...

, and the railroad hauls 4,059 carloads per year. In 2005, the railroad was purchased by

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

. In December 2012, Genesee & Wyoming acquired the railroad in its acquisition of RailAmerica. As of 2023, Bauxite & Northern Railway interchanges with

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

in Bauxite, Arkansas and can hold up to 286,000 pounds of supplies.

History

The Bauxite and Northern Railway was incorporated in

on November 13, 1906 and began operations in 1907, for the purpose of constructing and operating a railroad from the town of Bauxite Saline County to a junction with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. The BXN connected with the Rock Island at Bauxite, and connected with the

Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

at BN Junction. For the railroad's first 100 years, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of America. The connection for the old Rock Island is now gone, but the remnants are still visible, including a bridge over the Rock Island roadbed and local highway. Current motive power are two EMD MP15DC locomotives, and an EMD SW1500, housed in a two-stall enginehouse just outside the Alcoa plant. Former power was an

ALCO RS-3 The ALCO RS-3 is a , B-B diesel-electric locomotive manufactured from May 1950 to August 1956 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and its subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). A total of 1,418 were produced: 1,272 for American railro ...

diesel.

References

* RailAmerica (September 9, 2005),
RailAmerica Selected to Acquire Four Railroads from Alcoa; Additionally Announces Lease with CSX Transportation for the 48 Mile Fremont Branch
'. Retrieved September 13, 2005. * Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Docket 525; 121 ICC 474. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bauxite Northern Railway Arkansas railroads Railway companies established in 1906 RailAmerica Bauxite, Arkansas 1906 establishments in Arkansas Bauxite mining