The Long Creek Railroad is a Canadian

short line railway In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$ ...

operating in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

History

The Long Creek Railroad officially opened on October 2, 2012. The railway was formed in 2012 when the Long Creek Railroad, previously a rail equipment operating company that had been managing the line since 2005, organized the purchase of 40 miles of former

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

trackage with the support of about 25 initial investors. The line, formerly owned by

and known as CP Bromhead, was slated for discontinuation in 2005. The CP Bromhead Sub was built in 1913 by Canadian Pacific, and was originally known as the Neptune Branch which ran between Estevan and Neptune, Saskatchewan. The current line begins in

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

and runs to

Estevan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History The ...

where it meets the Canadian Pacific at mile 137.5 of CP

Weyburn Weyburn is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. The city has a population of 10,870. It is on the Souris River southeast of the provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina and is north from the North Dakota border in the ...

Sub. The creation of the company was spurred by an $800,000 interest free loan, covering about 32% of the total purchase price, from the Saskatchewan government, which has a program to encourage the transfer of short lines to local ownership.

Operations

Currently 90% of the freight is grain, although fracking sand is a growing segment of the railway's business. Other revenues derive from storing rail cars, mainly oil and asphalt tankers. There are plans, despite market conditions, to revive oil and gas shipments via the line. Torq Transloading built an oil transfer site at the former community of Southall to load local petroleum into tankers for delivery to refineries. Additionally, trans-loading agreements have been signed with the Rural Municipality of Souris Valley No. 7.

Engines

Engines operated by the Long Creek Railroad include LCR 6347, an ex.

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

GP35, purchased from the Dakota Missouri Valley & Western Railway in 2013.

Communities

The Long Creek Railroad runs 41 miles and serves the communities of

, Outram,

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

, Bromhead, and

. It operates two loading facilities at Pederson Heritage farms in Torquay and Souris Valley Grain in Tribune.

References

External links