The Port Harbor Railroad is a

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

Granite City, Illinois Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, within the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The population was 27,549 at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Metro East and Southern Illinois regions, ...

, serving an industrial port district known as America's Central Port. PHRR began operations in 2004 as a subsidiary of the Respondek Railroad and connects with the

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a Class III switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. It is co-owned by five of the six Class I railroads that reach the city. Present ope ...

at "WR Tower," a major railroad junction in Granite City. PHRR transports everything from steel and aluminum products to foods, lumber, paper, chemicals, minerals, grains and other products. The railroad is classified as a Class III Common Carrier. PHRR serves several industrial businesses in Granite City, including: *Mattingly Lumber *

Abengoa Abengoa, S.A. was a Spanish multinational company in the green infrastructure, energy and water sectors. The company was founded in 1941 by Javier Benjumea Puigcerver and José Manuel Abaurre Fernández-Pasalagua, and was based in Seville, Spain ...

*APC Transload *Rivers Edge Chemicals *

Airgas Airgas, an Air Liquide company, is an American supplier of industrial, medical and specialty gases (delivered in packaged or cylinder form), as well as hardgoods and related products; one of the largest U.S. suppliers of safety products; and a ...

Motive power

The motive power roster for the PHRR consists of 10 EMD locomotives, two of which have a notable history. Unit #1800, a rebuilt EMD

GP8 The EMD GP8 is a model of four-axle diesel locomotive rebuilt by Illinois Central's Paducah shops using a General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) GP7, GMD GP7 or GP9 as a start. It is similar to the GP10 and GP11. A total of 111 units wer ...

, formerly served on the

Alaska Railroad Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

and starred as the third unit in the 1986 movie

Runaway Train (film) ''Runaway Train'' is a 1985 American independent action thriller film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay and John P. Ryan. The screenplay by Djordje Milicevic, Paul Zindel and Edward Bunker ...

. And, while not as famous as the #1800, unit #2064 did briefly appear in the

Jason Aldean Jason Aldean (born Jason Aldine Williams; February 28, 1977) is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to BBR Music Group, Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released ten albums and 40 singles. His 2010 ...

music video for

Fly Over States "Fly Over States" is a song written by Neil Thrasher and Michael Dulaney and recorded by American country music artist Jason Aldean. It was released in February 2012 as the fifth and final single from his 2010 album ''My Kinda Party'' and the fift ...

. The newest locomotives on PHRR's roster are two GP40's and a GP9/Slug set and a SW1200RS that were purchased from the

Canadian Pacific 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 ...

Railroad and arrived between July and August 2013. *Respondek SW9 #14 originally Florida East Coast 227 *Respondek SD40-2 #1000 originally C&NW 6813 *Respondek Slug #1015. Slug converted from Canadian Pacific SW7 #6713. *Respondek GP9m #1602, Arrived mated to Slug 1015. *Respondek GP8 #1800 ex Alaska Railroad 1801 *Respondek SW1200 #1239 ex-TRRA *Respondek GP40 #2064 ex CP (SOO). *Respondek SD40-2 #3086 originally C&NW 6923 (in service) *Respondek GP40 #4615 ex CP (SOO) originally MILW 2035 (in service in full CP Paint, to be re-lettered in 2014) *Respondek SW1200RS #8166. Ex-Canadian Pacific 8166. (stored serviceable)

References

External links

*https://www.portharborrailroad.com/ *http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=PHRR *http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=RRC *https://web.archive.org/web/20140202203532/http://www.americascentralport.com/rail-service/ Illinois railroads {{Illinois-transport-stub