The Kyle Railroad is a regional

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line that runs from North Central

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

into Eastern

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It is based in Phillipsburg, Kansas and runs on of track, mostly the former

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

main line. The Kyle was owned by RailAmerica from 2002 to 2012. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. bought RailAmerica in late 2012. As of 2024, KYLE holds 508 total miles (89 in

and 419 in

), has a maximum capacity of 286,000 gross pounds per railcar. KYLE also has two interchanges with two railroads: BNSF at Courtland, Kansas and Concordia, Kansas, and

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, ...

at Limon, Colorado and Salina, Kansas.

History

The Kyle Railroad was formed for the 1982 northern Kansas harvest season by the Willis B. Kyle Organization, which consisted of several railroad properties, including the

San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway is a short-line American railroad founded in 1932 as the successor to the San Diego and Arizona Railway (SD&A), which was founded in 1906 by entrepreneur John D. Spreckels. Dubbed "The Impossible Railr ...

, the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway, the

Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, often abbreviated as the C&TSRR, is a Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge Heritage railway, heritage railroad that operates on of track between Antonito, Colorado, and Chama, New Mexico, in the United Sta ...

and the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Included was about of trackage from Mahaska, KS to Limon, CO. Officially, on September 16, 1980, The Kyle Railroad signed with the MSPA (Mid-States Port Authority) a contract for the Mahaska, KS to Limon, CO and Belleville, KS to Clay Center, KS line. The Kyle Railroad acted as the MSPA's operator of these lines. In 2009 the Kyle Railroad bought the tracks on which it operates from the MSPA. Power for the trains initially consisted of former

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

ALCO Century 425s, most tracing their heritage to the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. Kyle Railroad migrated to General Electric U30C and U33C power by the mid-2000s. After RailAmerica purchased Kyle, the legacy GE power was dropped in favor of EMD power, including former Burlington Northern SD40-2s and Southern Pacific SD45T-2s. With the purchase by Genesee and Wyoming, six MK5000C's (rebuilt as MK50-3s) provided by the Utah Railway (a fellow subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming) entered operation on the Kyle Railroad, joining the older EMD locomotives. In June 2024, Kyle Railroad took delivery of four ex- Kansas City Southern Railroad GE C44-9W's, gradually replacing the MK50-3's. By May 2025, five of the six MK50-3's have been sidelined.

Traffic

The railroad handles mostly agricultural commodities, although limited amounts of construction materials are carried. 24,100 carloads were moved in 2016.

References

Notes

External links

Kyle Railroad official webpage - Genesee and Wyoming website
Colorado railroads Kansas railroads Regional railroads in the United States RailAmerica Spin-offs of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad {{US-rail-company-stub