Farmrail System, Inc. is an employee-owned holding company for two Class III common-carrier railroads comprising "Western Oklahoma’s Regional Railroad" based in

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has also been used as a given nam ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. Farmrail Corporation has acted since 1981 as a lessee-operator for

Oklahoma Department of Transportation The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is an government agency, agency of the government of Oklahoma responsible for the construction and maintenance of the state's transportation infrastructure. Under the leadership of the Oklahoma Se ...

, managing an 82-mile east-west former Rock Island line between Weatherford and Erick and an additional 89 miles of former Santa Fe track, Westhorn-Elmer, acquired by the State in 1992 from the ATSF Railway. Another wholly owned affiliate, Grainbelt Corporation (GNBC), was formed in 1987 to buy 176 contiguous north-south route-miles linking Enid and

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

Operations

Farmrail Corporation , operates two connected lines: *An line from

Erick, Oklahoma Erick ( ) is a city in Beckham County, Oklahoma, Beckham County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located west of Sayre, Oklahoma, Sayre, the county seat, and east of the Oklahoma-Texas border. The population was an even 1,000 at the time of the ...

, through Clinton, to

Weatherford, Oklahoma Weatherford is a city in Custer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 12,076 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a gain of about 11.5% over the 10,833 figure from the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. ...

. *A line from Westhorn, Oklahoma, through Clinton, to Elmer, Oklahoma. Grainbelt 8335

Grainbelt Corporation , of lines from

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County, Oklahoma, Garfield County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the openin ...

, to

Frederick, Oklahoma Frederick is a city and county seat of Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,468 at the time of the 2020 Census. It is an agriculture-based community that primarily produces wheat, cotton, and cattle. Frederick is home ...

, and over of

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

trackage rights from

Snyder, Oklahoma Snyder is a city in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,301 at the time of the 2020 Census. History The community of Snyder was established in Oklahoma Territory, just south of Mountain Park in 1902. The founder was ...

, to

Quanah, Texas Quanah () is a city in and the county seat of Hardeman County, Texas, Hardeman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 2,279, down from 2,641 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. ...

. In addition, FMRC operates

Finger Lakes Railway The Finger Lakes Railway is a Class III railroad in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The company began operations on July 23, 1995, and operates in Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Schuyler and Yates counties. The FGLK operates 18 diesel ...

Corporation as part of a joint venture; FGLK operates 168 miles of railway in New York state. FMRC and Grainbelt traffic includes

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

products,

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

, rail cars undergoing repair,

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

rock and associated products, oil field materials,

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, feed grains and meals, and farm implements. The FMRC lines are owned by the state of

and were leased to FMRC in 1993. The Grainbelt line began operations as a short-line railroad in 1987.

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

named Farmrail System as its “Shortline of the Year” in 2017, citing the company’s entrepreneurial spirit and diligence in attracting new customers, and specifically noting Farmrail’s replacement of 8,400 crossties and more than 10,000 tons of ballast in less than one month to revitalize a siding and capture new business.

Equipment

References

External links

Farmrail System official website

Link to Union Pacific Website with FMRC Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmrail Corporation Oklahoma railroads Switching and terminal railroads Spin-offs of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1981