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 categorized by operating revenue, and most shortline railroads fall into the Class III or Class II categorization defined by the Surface Transportation Board .
7-401: The Bowdon Railway was a shortline railroad in the United States. It was incorporated in 1910 and opened a 12-mile (19 km) line between Bowdon, Georgia , and a connection with the Central of Georgia Railway at Bowdon Junction, Georgia , in 1911. The company ceased operations in 1963 and the line was abandoned. The Bowdon Railway was incorporated on April 9, 1910, to construct
14-416: A Class III is a railroad with an annual operating revenue of less than $ 28 million. In Canada , Transport Canada classifies shortline railroads as Class II . There are three kinds of shortlines in the U.S.: handling, switch, and ISS (Interline Settlement System). It was reported in 2009 that shortline railroads employ 20,000 people in the U.S., and own 30 percent of the nation's railroad tracks. About
21-440: A quarter of all U.S. rail freight travels at least a small part of its journey over a short-line railroad. An ever-growing number of shortline operators have been acquired by larger holding companies which own or lease railroad properties in many states, as well as internationally. For example, Genesee & Wyoming controls over 100 railroads in over 40 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. A consequence of such consolidation
28-449: A railway line from Bowdon, Georgia , northeast to a junction with the Central of Georgia Railway . Its backers were all from Bowdon; J. L. Lovvorn served as president. The line was completed for operation on January 25, 1911. Prior to completion, the company hosted "an all-day barbecue and free rides on Thanksgiving Day, 1910." The company entered receivership in 1944 and was reorganized as
35-529: The Bowdon Railroad and Transportation Company by W. C. Roop, another local businessman. The company reverted to the original name in 1953. Never a major success, the reorganized company began losing money in 1958. The last train ran on July 30, 1963. Roop blamed competition from trucks and a lack of demand for rail service. This United States rail–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about transportation in
42-826: The U.S. state of Georgia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Shortline railroad At the beginning of the railroad age, nearly all railway lines were shortlines, locally chartered, financed and operated; as the railroad industry matured, local lines were merged or acquired to create longer mainline railroads. Especially since 1980 in the U.S. and 1990 in Canada, many shortlines have been established when larger railroad companies sold off or abandoned low-profit portions of their trackage. Shortline operators typically have lower labor, overhead and regulatory costs than Class I railroads and therefore are often able to operate profitable lines that lost money for their original owners. Shortlines generally exist for one or more of
49-524: The following reasons: In France, the equivalent of shortlines railroads are the opérateurs ferroviaires de proximité (local railways operators). Because of their small size and generally low revenues, the great majority of shortline railroads in the U.S. are classified by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as Class III . As defined by the Surface Transportation Board (STB),
#771228