Fort Worth and Western Railroad

Fort Worth and Western Railroad
Reporting mark FWWR
Locale West Central Texas
Dates of operation 1988Present
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters Fort Worth, Texas
The Tarantula

The Fort Worth and Western Railroad (reporting mark FWWR) is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Operating only within the state of Texas, its main freight service route is between Carrollton, Fort Worth and Brownwood.[1]

History

Much of the company's route originally belonged to the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway, which began construction from Fort Worth in 1886 and reached Brownwood in 1891. In 1901, the FW&RG was bought by the Frisco Railway, which sold it to the Santa Fe Railroad in 1937. The Santa Fe sold the line to an affiliate of the South Orient Railroad in 1994.

The FWWR began operations in 1988, with 6.25 miles (10.06 km) of track that it had bought from the Burlington Northern.[2] By the mid-1990s, the railroad operated 10.75 miles (17.30 km) of track, the result of numerous minor acquisitions.[2] In 1996, the FWWR more than doubled its total trackage with the lease of a 28.5 miles (45.9 km) route from Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and in 1998 purchased 134 miles (216 km) of track from South Orient Railroad, now Texas Pacifico Transportation.[2] The FWWR leased two Union Pacific Railroad properties, a yard and branch line, in 2002 and 2003 respectively.[2]

Route

The FWWR operates a total of 276 miles (444 km) of track[2] between Carro and Ricker, Texas, with branch lines from Dublin to Gorman and from Cresson to Cleburne, as well as trackage rights in the Fort Worth area and between Ricker and San Angelo Junction, Texas.[3] Since 2007, the railroad has been in the process of resurfacing its trackage, as well as installing new sidings and upgrading the route, eventually to allow 40 mph (64 km/h) speeds over the entire line.[3]

Company

On 27 December 2010, Fort Worth and Western named Thomas Schlosser as president and CEO, who took over from Steven George, who had held the position since 2000; the company's vice president and COO is Richard Green.[3][4] The company employs around 85 people.[3]
Since January 2013, Fort Worth and Western has been under fire for its management of the crossing in Cresson, TX, near the intersection of Highway 171 and US-377. Numerous and lengthy delays are costing 40,000 daily commuters time and money. Hood County Headaches - NBC5

Fleet

As of December 2009, the Fort Worth and Western's locomotive fleet consists of the following:[5]

Number Type Manufacturer
2473, 2569
EMD CF7
EMD
104
EMD F7
EMD
103, 2198, 2785
EMD GP7
EMD
4299
EMD GP9
EMD
5004, 5007
EMD GP35
EMD
2000-2007, 2019
EMD GP38
EMD
2008-2012
EMD GP50
EMD
2015-2017
EMD SD40-2
EMD
3252
EMD SD40T-2
EMD
1400, 2013-2014
NRE 2GS14B
NRE

References

  1. System Map of the Fort Worth and Western, accessed 1 September 2011
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Fort Worth & Western Railroad FWWR #277". Union Pacific Railroad. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Kube, Kathi (January 2011). "Thinkin' Big in Texas". Trains Magazine (Kalmbach Publishing): 48–53.
  4. "Fort Worth & Western names new president". Trains Magazine. 27 December 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  5. "Fort Worth & Western". The Diesel Shop. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

External links