The West Tennessee Railroad is a shortline railroad in the

Southern U.S. The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, connecting Corinth, Mississippi, to Fulton, Kentucky, via western Tennessee. The company began operating in 1984 on a portion of the former Mobile and Ohio Railroad (M&O) main line between Jackson and Kenton, Tennessee. It significantly expanded operations in 2001 through the lease, from 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 ...

, of the ex-M&O south to Corinth and a former main line of the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) north to Fulton, as well as a branch from Jackson to Poplar Corner (ex- Birmingham and Northwestern Railway, acquired by the

Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad The Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad was a railroad in the Southern United States. The first World War had forced government operation upon the company; and in 1919, when it became once more a free agent, it chose Isaac B. Tigrett to chart its ...

in 1924). All of these lines were part of the

Illinois Central Gulf Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A ...

(ICG) prior to its 1980s program of spin-offs, during which Gibson County purchased the Jackson-Kenton line and the Southern Railway acquired the Corinth-Fulton line and Poplar Corner branch. The company is under common control with the South Central Tennessee Railroad and the Tennken Railroad. Its main line was upgraded as part of the MidAmerica Corridor, an initiative by the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

and

to improve rail service between Illinois and the Southeast.

History and current operations

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad completed a line between

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, and Columbus, Kentucky, in 1861,

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 ...

, 143 I.C.C. 459 (1928): Valuation Docket No. 149, Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company et al. and the Mississippi Central Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad predecessor, completed its north-south line between New Orleans, Louisiana and

Cairo, Illinois Cairo ( ) is the southernmost city in Illinois and the county seat of Alexander County. The city is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Fort Defiance, a Civil War camp, was built here in 1862 by Union General Ulysses ...

in 1873. The Birmingham and Northwestern Railway opened a line between Jackson, where the M&O and IC lines crossed, and Dyersburg in 1912 and was purchased by the

in 1924. Through mergers, all of these lines became part of the

in 1972. The Gibson County Railroad Authority acquired the line between Jackson and Kenton in August 1984, and the new West Tennessee Railroad began operations in October that same year.Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide, 5th Edition, Kalmbach Publishing, 1996, pp. 330-331 The Southern Railway bought the Corinth-Jackson-Fulton and Jackson-Poplar Corner lines from the ICG in June 1988, and in August 2001 the

, successor to the Southern, leased them to WTNN.STB Finance Docket No. 34039
August 17, 2001 (The Southern also acquired the ICG's line southeast to Haleyville, Alabama, and trackage rights from Fulton north to Centralia, Illinois, and NS sold the former, where not abandoned, to the Redmont Railway in 1995.)

References

External links

West Tennessee Railroad

Locomotive Roster
(current and historical locomotive roster) {{DEFAULTSORT:West Tennessee Railroad Tennessee railroads Kentucky railroads Mississippi railroads Railway companies established in 1984 Spin-offs of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad