Farmrail System, Inc. is an employee-owned holding company for two Class III common-carrier railroads comprising "Western Oklahoma’s Regional Railroad" based in Clinton, Oklahoma. Farmrail Corporation has acted since 1981 as a lessee-operator for Oklahoma Department of Transportation, managing an 82-mile east-west former Rock Island line between Weatherford and Erick and an additional 89 miles of former Santa Fe track, Westhorn-Elmer, acquired by the State in 1992 from the ATSF Railway. Another wholly owned affiliate, Grainbelt Corporation (GNBC), was formed in 1987 to buy 176 contiguous north-south route-miles linking Enid and

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

Operations

Farmrail Corporation , operates two connected lines: *An line from

Erick, Oklahoma Erick ( ) is a city in Beckham County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located west of Sayre, the county seat, and east of the Oklahoma-Texas border. The population was 1,052 at the 2010 census. A post office, originally named Dennis, was es ...

, through Clinton, to

Weatherford, Oklahoma Weatherford is a city in Custer County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 10,833 at the 2010 census. Geography Weatherford is located at (35.5384097, -98.6872467). The elevation is 1,634 feet (498 m). According to the United States ...

. *A line from Westhorn, Oklahoma, through Clinton, to Elmer, Oklahoma. Grainbelt 8335

Grainbelt Corporation , of lines from

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, a ...

, to

Frederick, Oklahoma Frederick is a city and county seat of Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,940 at the 2010 census. It is an agriculture-based community that primarily produces wheat, cotton, and cattle. Frederick is home to three d ...

, and over of BNSF Railway trackage rights from

Snyder, Oklahoma Snyder is a city in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,394 at the 2010 census. This figure represented a decline of 7.6 percent from 1,509 persons in 2000. History The community of Snyder was established in Oklahoma Te ...

, to

Quanah, Texas Quanah is a city in and the county seat of Hardeman County, Texas, Hardeman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census the population was 2,641, down from 3,022 at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census. Q ...

. In addition, FMRC operates

Finger Lakes Railway The Finger Lakes Railway is a Class III railroad in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The company began operations on July 23, 1995, and operates in Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Schuyler and Yates counties. The FGLK operates 18 diesel l ...

Corporation as part of a joint venture; FGLK operates 168 miles of railway in New York state. FMRC and Grainbelt traffic includes

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, steel products,

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

, rail cars undergoing repair,

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...

rock and associated products, oil field materials,

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

, feed grains and meals, and farm implements. The FMRC lines are owned by the state of Oklahoma and were leased to FMRC in 1993. The Grainbelt line began operations as a short-line railroad in 1987.

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

named Farmrail System as its “Shortline of the Year” in 2017, citing the company’s entrepreneurial spirit and diligence in attracting new customers, and specifically noting Farmrail’s replacement of 8,400 crossties and more than 10,000 tons of ballast in less than one month to revitalize a siding and capture new business.

Equipment

References

External links

Farmrail System official website

Link to Union Pacific Website with FMRC Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmrail Corporation Oklahoma railroads Switching and terminal railroads Spin-offs of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1981