The Blue Ridge Southern Railroad is a Class III

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

operating over of track in

Western North Carolina Western North Carolina (often abbreviated as WNC) is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United S ...

. The railroad is 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 ...

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 United S ...

, and operates three lines that connect in the

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

area that were previously owned by

Norfolk Southern 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 ...

. The railroad is based out of

Canton, North Carolina Canton is the second largest town in Haywood County, North Carolina, United States. It is located about west of Asheville, North Carolina, Asheville and is part of that city's Asheville metropolitan area, metropolitan area. The town is named aft ...

, and utilizes 11 locomotives. Operations began on 26 July 2014.

History

The Blue Ridge Southern Railroad was formed on 25 June 2014 when

reached a definitive agreement with

for the purchase of 91.8 miles of branchlines in Western North Carolina. The railroad began operations with a fleet of 11 diesel electric locomotives, which consist of three SD40-2s, four SD40M-2 rebuilds, and four GP39-2s. The announcement to sell the lines that would become the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad was made in a Norfolk Southern corporate meeting in April 2014.

Lines operated

Roster

References

External links

Blue Ridge Southern Railroad
{{Authority control North Carolina railroads Railway companies established in 2014 2014 establishments in North Carolina Spin-offs of the Norfolk Southern Railway Transportation in Jackson County, North Carolina Transportation in Haywood County, North Carolina Transportation in Buncombe County, North Carolina Transportation in Transylvania County, North Carolina Transportation in Henderson County, North Carolina

History

Lines operated

Roster

See also

References

Further reading

External links