The Columbia Branch is a railway line in Boone County, Missouri. long, it runs from

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

, to Centralia, Missouri, where it joins the St. Louis District of 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 ...

. Originally built by the Boone County and Jefferson City Railroad in 1867, today it is owned by the city of Columbia and operated by the

Columbia Terminal Railroad The Columbia Terminal Railroad, Columbia Branch Railroad, or COLT is a local, short-line, freight railroad in Boone County, Missouri owned by and serving the city of Columbia, Missouri. The railroad runs from Columbia to the Norfolk Southern Railw ...

History

The Boone County and Jefferson City Railroad was incorporated in 1857 to build a railway between

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

and

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the princip ...

. Nothing was done before the American Civil War broke out in 1861. In 1866, the war over, the

North Missouri Railroad The North Missouri Railroad was a railway company that operated in the states of Missouri and Iowa in the mid-19th century. Incorporated in 1851, at its peak it owned or leased nearly of track. It was reorganized as the St. Louis, Kansas City an ...

leased the Boone County and Jefferson City Railroad. The North Missouri's line ran east–west through Centralia, Missouri, roughly north of Columbia. The new branch line opened on October 29, 1867. The line was never extended beyond Columbia, though it changed ownership several times. The North Missouri Railroad was reorganized in 1872 as the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway, while the Boone County and Jefferson City Railroad itself reorganized as the Boone County and Boonville Railway in 1873. The leasehold continued under the

Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its pri ...

(1879–1887), the Wabash Western Railway (1887–1889), and finally the Wabash Railroad (1889–1902). Finally, in 1902, the Wabash formed the Columbia and St. Louis Railroad as a vehicle to acquire the Boone County and Boonville Railway and the Columbia Branch outright. The

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

leased the Wabash in 1964, ending the Wabash's independent existence. The Norfolk and Western itself merged with the Southern Railway in 1982 to form the

. When the Norfolk Southern proposed the abandon the line in 1987, the city of Columbia acquired it and created the

to serve freight customers along the route.

Notes

References

* * * {{cite magazine , last=Pumphrey , first=Zach , title=A workhorse, not a show horse , magazine= Trains , date=September 2018 , volume=78 , issue=9 , pages=52–55 , issn=0041-0934 Railway lines opened in 1867 Rail infrastructure in Missouri Wabash Railroad