St. Louis Southwestern Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

for other uses of SSW, see SSW (disambiguation)

St. Louis Southwestern Railway

Reporting marks	SSW
Locale	Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas
Dates of operation	1891 – 1992
Successor line	Southern Pacific
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	St. Louis, Missouri

The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company (AAR reporting marks SSW), known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", was organized on January 15, 1891, although it had its origins in a series of short lines founded in Tyler Texas in 1877 that connected northeastern Texas to Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. The company gained trackage rights over the Missouri Pacific Railroad to reach the St. Louis area. The St. Louis Southwestern and its subsidiaries operated a total of 1,607 miles of track in 1945; 1,555 miles of track in 1965; and 2,115 miles of track in 1981 after taking over the Rock Island's Golden State Route.

The Southern Pacific Railroad gained control of the Cotton Belt system on April 14, 1932 but continued to operate it as a separate company until 1992, when the SP consolidated the Cotton Belt's operations into the parent company. Cotton Belt diesel locomotives from 1959 on were painted in Southern Pacific's "bloody nose" scheme - dark gray locomotive body with a red "winged" nose. The letters "SSW" were painted on the nose and "Cotton Belt" on the sides.

Cotton Belt steam locomotive #819 is maintained at the Arkansas Railway Museum in Pine Bluff, Arkansas by the Cotton Belt Rail Historical Society. The #819 was the last new steam locomotive purchased by the Cotton Belt in 1943 and it was built in the Pine Bluff Shops.

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

Moody's Steam Railroads 1949
Moody's Transportation Manual 9/1968
Goen, Steve Allen (1999), 'Cotton Belt Color Pictorial', Four Ways West Publications. ISBN 1-885614-25-X

Current (operating) Class I railroads of North America
United States: AMTK, BNSF, CSXT, GTW, KCS, NS, SOO, UP - Canada: CN, CP, VIA - Mexico: FXE, TFM, KCSM See also: List of USA/Canada/Mexico Class I Railroads, List of USA/Canadian Class II Railroads, Class III railroad, Class 2 Railroads in Canada, Short-line railroad, List of United States railroads, List of Canadian railroads, list of Mexican railroads