Louisiana & North West

Company History: The L&NW, which dates to 1889, runs from McNeil Arkansas (and a connection to the old Cotton Belt, now Union Pacific) 62 miles south to Gibsland, Louisiana and connections to Kansas City Southern (formerly MidSouth and before that, Illinois Central.)

L&NW rostered half a dozen secondhand F7’s from Southern Pacific and Western Pacific. The SP units were equipped with snow plow pilots which wouldn’t see a lot of use in this area. Rebuilt and 2nd generation geeps gradually replaced them over the years.

In the 20’s, L&NW became an outlet for oil and oil drilling equipment and was owned by local oil barons. In later years, paper industry traffic took over. The L&NW even had a small fleet of plug door boxcars for finished paper service. Today’s customers include: Albemarle Corp. (Chemicals), Wayerhaeuser, Partee Flooring, CMC Steel Arkansas and Berry Plastics.

In 2008, L&NW joined the Patriot Rail shortline group.

Successor/Parent History: Patriot Rail operates 12 regional and freight short line railroads, a scenic rail excursion train, and five rail-related services companies with over 600 total rail miles across the United States.

Service capabilities include railcar storage, railcar repair and maintenance, railway clean-up and transfer, tank car cleaning and environmental services, contract switching, transloading, engineering services, excursion railroads, real estate, and track access.

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.