Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad

The Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad (reporting mark ALM) is a 52.9-mile (85.1 km) short-line railroad in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. Opened in 1908, it has undergone several corporate reorganizations, but has remained independent of larger carriers. In 2004, paper producer Georgia-Pacific sold the company to shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Traffic generally consists of lumber, paper, forest products, and chemicals.[1]

Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad
ALM #1812, a rare EMD GP28, westbound through Norfolk Southern Norris Yard in Irondale, Alabama.
Overview
HeadquartersCrossett, Arkansas
Reporting markALM
LocaleArkansas and Louisiana
Dates of operation1991–
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The AL&M runs north from Monroe, Louisiana, on the Canadian Pacific Kansas City's Meridian Speedway, through Bastrop to Crossett, Arkansas, generally paralleling U.S. Routes 165 and 425. At Crossett, the AL&M interchanges with the affiliated Fordyce and Princeton Railroad, which hauls its cars to the Union Pacific Railroad at Fordyce.[1][2] A branch from Rolfe Junction to Hamburg, Arkansas, was abandoned in 1920, with the grade reused for a county road; in 2006 the AL&M leased a segment of line in Bastrop from the Union Pacific Railroad.

History

The Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf Railway (AL&G) was incorporated in July 1906 to connect Monroe with Pine Bluff, Arkansas.[3] The latter city was never reached, and the line as opened in October 1908 ended at Hamburg and Crossett. It entered receivership in May 1913, and in December 1914 the newly organized Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf Railroad leased both the Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf Railway and the Crossett-Monticello Ashley, Drew and Northern Railway (AD&N), the latter owned by the Crossett Lumber Company. Alfred Cowles of Chicago bought the AL&G's property at foreclosure in September 1915, and in November the reorganized Arkansas and Louisiana Midland Railway (A&LM) acquired the Monroe-Crossett line, but the branch to Hamburg remained with Cowles. The A&LM took over the AL&G Railroad's lease of the AD&N, and leased the Hamburg line.[4] Steam operations on the line ended by 1960.

The A&LM was not successful, and entered receivership in February 1920, terminating the AD&N lease in March.[5] Operations north of Bastrop were suspended in May, and the property was sold in July and conveyed in August to the new Arkansas and Louisiana Missouri Railway. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved permanent abandonment of the Hamburg branch, now a county road, and resumption of operation to Crossett. The new AL&M also obtained trackage rights over the Missouri Pacific Railroad from Bastrop to Dollar Junction and Huttig, Arkansas, the two ends of the 1.88-mile (3.03 km) Louisiana and Pine Bluff Railway.[6] The AL&M leased the latter company,[7] which provided access to a saw mill, until its dissolution in 1979.[8]

The current name was adopted in September 1991,[1] when Georgia-Pacific organized the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad to purchase the A&LM. The AD&N, then owned by Georgia-Pacific as successor to the Crossett Lumber Company, was abandoned in August 1995,[9] and Genesee & Wyoming Inc. purchased several of Georgia-Pacific's railroads, including the AL&M, in January 2004.[2] In 2006, the AL&M leased from the Union Pacific Railroad 4.24 miles (6.82 km) of line at Bastrop,[10] which had previously been owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

References
  1. Lewis, Edward A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5th ed.). Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 31–32.
  2. "Union Pacific Short Line Railroad Directory: Arkansas Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad Company". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  3. "The Railroads. Two Railroads Given Charters". Fort Smith Times. Fort Smith, AR. July 22, 1906. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  4. Interstate Commerce Commission, 135 I.C.C. 424 (1928): Valuation Docket No. 606, Arkansas & Louisiana Midland Railway Company et al.
  5. Moody's Transportation Manual. 1975. p. 49.
  6. Interstate Commerce Commission, 67 I.C.C. 781 (1921). Finance Docket No. 73 – via Google Books.
  7. Moody's Transportation Manual. 1979. p. 874.
  8. Moody's Transportation Manual. 1984. p. xxii.
  9. Railroad Retirement Board (August 8, 2003). "Employer Status Determination: Ashley, Drew & Northern Railway Company". Archived from the original on January 17, 2009.
  10. United States Surface Transportation Board (July 17, 2006). "STB Finance Docket No. 34838".
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