The Algers, Winslow and Western Railway was a Class III short-line

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that served the

surface mining Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

operations in Pike County,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. It operated approximately 19 miles of track which reached from the coal mines west of Cato south to those at Enos Corner, and ran close to the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

and

Indiana Southern Railroad The Indiana Southern Railroad is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property, and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by G ...

. It was acquired in March 2007 by Norfolk Southern, but still operating under the original company's name. The railroad's name comes from the Pike County towns of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

(now virtually extinct) and

Winslow Winslow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish * Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974 United States and Canada * Rural Municipality of Winslo ...

History

Southern Railway, the predecessor of Norfolk Southern, sought to purchase AWW in 1974, but the move was denied by the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...

which limited Southern to acquiring only 50% of the railroad. Ownership of the remaining 50% passed among various coal interests over the next 30 years, finally falling to Horizon Natural Resources. In October 2004, Horizon went through bankruptcy and sold its interest in the railroad (along with two mines along the AWW) to Lexington Coal Company; Lexington sold it to Indiana Land and Mineral Company in September 2005, who in turn transferred it to American Metals and Coal International (AMCI) in January 2006. Norfolk Southern won approval from the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...

to acquire AMCI's share in AWW in March 2007, completing its takeover of the railroad. Since late 2004, the AWW has carried no coal and only a little other traffic, mainly from a nearby industrial tie plant. Railroad workers have been laid off and are called in only as needed, but plans to reopen two of the local mines may increase traffic on the line.

External links

STB Finance Docket No. 34839 (NS acquisition of AWW)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algers Winslow Western Railway Defunct Indiana railroads Transportation in Pike County, Indiana Predecessors of the Norfolk Southern Railway Railway companies established in 1926 Railway companies disestablished in 2007