Columbus & Greenville

Company History: If you've seen a boxcar or gondola with "CAGY" reporting marks, that's Columbus & Greenville. Before 1975, the reporting marks were C&G. In 1894, Southern Railway established the Southern Railway of Mississippi to take over a previous line linking Columbus, Mississippi near the Alabama border with Greenville near the Arkansas border (about 175 miles,) effectively bisecting the Magnolia State. In 1924, Southern dumped the line which was then taken over by local interests under the Columbus & Greenville name. In 1972, C&G was faced with the impending merger of Illinois Central and Gulf Mobile & Ohio. Of C&G's 15 junctions with other lines, 13 were with IC or GM&O. They petitioned to be included in the ICG merger and the government agreed. ICG bought the C&G. The following year, a major washout severed the line. ICG was not enthusiastic about fixing the washout despite local pressure. ICG suggested that local interests buy the line and fix it themselves and in 1975, that's exactly what happened. It was then that the reporting marks were changed to CAGY. In 1985, CAGY purchased some intersecting lines from ICG bringing the total mileage up to 242 (making it a bit larger than Elgin Joliet & Eastern in comparison.)

For years, Columbus & Greenville had been a stronghold for Baldwin diesels with EMD’s and even a Whitcomb switcher in supporting roles. Today, the Baldwins are long gone, replaced by secondhand EMD’s.

Successor/Parent History: Known today as the largest of the shortline holding companies, Genesee & Wyoming began as a shortline by that name in 1899 with a 15 mile line between Retsof and Caledonia, New York, just south of Rochester. In 1982, they extended southward to Greigsville by buying a former Lackawanna line from Conrail. In 1985, another purchase extended their reach north to Rochester and southwest to Silver Springs. This brought the mileage up to about 90. The Wyoming in the name is a reference to the Wyoming Valley.

In 1977, the railroad set up Genesee & Wyoming Inc. as a parent company. In 1985, they began to buy other shortlines and launch new ones as various Class One routes came up for sale or lease. Each of these lines operates under their own names but share the orange, yellow and black GNWR paint scheme, variations of which have been used by GNWR for decades. The logos of these related lines also use the GNWR style but with different wording and the occasional personalized element.

As of this writing, the Genesee & Wyoming family includes 121 shortline and regional railroads spread across North America, Europe and Australia. As of 2019, G&W became a subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. G&W has also bought other shortline groups, notably Rail Link in 1996, Summit View (the Ohio Central System) in 2008, Rail Management in 2005,.CAGY Industries in 2008, and largest of all RailAmerica in 2012.

Ironically, the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad was merged into the Rochester & Southern in 2003. The GNWR exists as a paper railroad but the logos on the diesels patrolling the old GNWR now say Rochester & Southern or the neighboring Buffalo & Pittsburgh.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.