West Tennessee Railroad

The West Tennessee Railroad (reporting mark WTNN) is a shortline railroad in the Southern U.S., 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, 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 in 1924). All of these lines were part of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (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.

West Tennessee Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersJackson, Tennessee
Reporting markWTNN
LocaleWest Tennessee
Dates of operation1984–
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The company is under common control with the South Central Tennessee Railroad and the Tennken Railroad.[1] Its main line was upgraded as part of the MidAmerica Corridor, an initiative by the Canadian National Railway and Norfolk Southern Railway to improve rail service between Illinois and the Southeast.

History and current operations

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad completed a line between Mobile, Alabama, and Columbus, Kentucky, in 1861,[2] and the Mississippi Central Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad predecessor, completed its north-south line between New Orleans, Louisiana and Cairo, Illinois in 1873.[3] 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 Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad in 1924.[4] Through mergers, all of these lines became part of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad 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.[5] The Southern Railway bought the Corinth-Jackson-Fulton and Jackson-Poplar Corner lines from the ICG in June 1988,[6] and in August 2001 the Norfolk Southern Railway, successor to the Southern, leased them to WTNN.[7] (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.)


Today the WTNN operates trains on an almost daily basis, serving many industries and delivering traffic from the CN, CSX, KCS, NS and RRC railroads.

Train T90 is the Jackson Yard Switcher, operating out of the Iselin Yard in Jackson.

Train T91 is the Poplar Corner Job, operating on the former B&NW branch to Poplar Corner.

Train T92 is the Jackson to Fulton Turn.

Train T93 is the Jackson to Humboldt Turn; occasionally operating all the way to Trenton.

Train T94 is the Jackson to Corinth Turn.

Train T95 is the Jackson to Kenton Turn, usually all grain traffic.

CSX Train M-791 is the Bruceton to Jackson Turn, which operates over the West Tennessee from Milan to Jackson for interchange at Iselin Yard.

CSX Train Y-101 is the Jackson Road Switcher, operating over eight miles of isolated CSX trackage from Rose Hill to Burkitt; this train also interchanges with West Tennessee at Iselin Yard in Jackson.

The former M&O/GM&O/ICG Iselin Shops in Jackson were sold to Williams Steel in 1986. Williams Steel currently operates the facility as a heavy steel fabrication shop.

References
  1. STB Finance Docket No. 34073, August 17, 2001
  2. Interstate Commerce Commission, 143 I.C.C. 459 (1928): Valuation Docket No. 149, Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company et al.
  3. W. K. Ackerman, History of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and Representative Employes, 1900, p. 118
  4. James Hutton Lemly, The Gulf, Mobile and Ohio: A Railroad that Had to Expand or Expire, 1953, pp. 224, 266
  5. Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide, 5th Edition, Kalmbach Publishing, 1996, pp. 330-331
  6. Union Transportation Union, Petitioner, v. Interstate Commerce Commission and United States of America, Respondents, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Southern Railway Company, and Illinois Central Railroad Company, Intervenors, decided March 28, 1989
  7. STB Finance Docket No. 34039, August 17, 2001
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