The Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad is a

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

in northern

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and southern

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. Opened in 1908, it has undergone several corporate reorganizations, but has remained independent of larger carriers. In 2004, paper producer

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of Tissue paper, tissue, Pulp (paper), pulp, paper, toilet and paper towe ...

sold the company to shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc. Traffic generally consists of

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

forest product A forest product is any material derived from forestry for direct consumption or commercial use, such as lumber, paper, or fodder for livestock. Wood, by far the dominant product of forests, is used for many purposes, such as wood fuel (e.g. in f ...

s, and

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

s. The AL&M runs north from

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...

, on the

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, Trade name, doing business as CPKC (known as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited until 2023), is a Canadian railway holding company. Through its primary operating railroad subsidiaries, Canadian Pacific Railw ...

Meridian Speedway The Meridian Speedway is a span of railroad track between Shreveport, Louisiana and Meridian, Mississippi. An important rail link between the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, it is operated as a joint venture of Canadian Pacific ...

, through Bastrop to

Crossett, Arkansas Crossett is the largest city in Ashley County, Arkansas, United States, with a population of 5,507, according to 2010 Census Bureau estimates. Combined with North Crossett and West Crossett, the population is 10,752. Crossett was incorporate ...

, generally paralleling U.S. Routes 165 and 425. At Crossett, the AL&M interchanges with the affiliated Fordyce and Princeton Railroad, which hauls its cars to the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

at Fordyce. A branch from Rolfe Junction to

Hamburg, Arkansas Hamburg is a city in and the county seat of Ashley County, Arkansas, Ashley County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,857 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The population declined by more than 10% between 2010 and 2020, ...

, was abandoned in 1920, with the grade reused for a

county road A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...

; in 2006 the AL&M leased a segment of line in Bastrop from the Union Pacific Railroad.

History

The Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf Railway (AL&G) was incorporated in July 1906 to connect Monroe with

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff, officially the City of Pine Bluff, is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, tenth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, Jefferson County. The population of the city wa ...

. The latter city was never reached, and the line as opened in October 1908 ended at Hamburg and Crossett. It entered

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

in May 1913, and in December 1914 the newly organized Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf ''Railroad'' leased both the Arkansas, Louisiana and Gulf ''Railway'' and the Crossett-

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

Ashley, Drew and Northern Railway (AD&N), the latter owned by the Crossett Lumber Company. Alfred Cowles of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

bought the AL&G's property at

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

in September 1915, and in November the reorganized Arkansas and Louisiana Midland Railway (A&LM) acquired the Monroe-Crossett line, but the branch to Hamburg remained with Cowles. The A&LM took over the AL&G Railroad's lease of the AD&N, and leased the Hamburg line.

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 industry in the United States, truc ...

, 135 I.C.C. 424 (1928): Valuation Docket No. 606, Arkansas & Louisiana Midland Railway Company et al. Steam operations on the line ended by 1960. The A&LM was not successful, and entered receivership in February 1920, terminating the AD&N lease in March. Operations north of Bastrop were suspended in May, and the property was sold in July and conveyed in August to the new Arkansas and Louisiana Missouri Railway. The

approved permanent abandonment of the Hamburg branch, now a county road, and resumption of operation to Crossett. The new AL&M also obtained

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

over the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

from Bastrop to Dollar Junction and

Huttig, Arkansas Huttig is a city in Union County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 597 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (3.25%) is water. Demographic ...

, the two ends of the Louisiana and Pine Bluff Railway. The AL&M leased the latter company, which provided access to a

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

, until its dissolution in 1979. The current name was adopted in September 1991, when Georgia-Pacific organized the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Railroad to purchase the A&LM. The AD&N, then owned by Georgia-Pacific as successor to the Crossett Lumber Company, was abandoned in August 1995, and Genesee & Wyoming Inc. purchased several of Georgia-Pacific's railroads, including the AL&M, in January 2004. In 2006, the AL&M leased from the

of line at Bastrop, which had previously been owned by the

References

External links

Arkansas Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arkansas Louisiana Mississippi Railroad Arkansas railroads Louisiana railroads Genesee & Wyoming Railway companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in the United States Standard-gauge railways in the United States