Missouri & Northern Arkansas

Company History: The MNA launched in 1992 as a spin off of Union Pacific. Shortline group RailTex bought 102 miles of line from UP (formerly MP and M-K-T) then added trackage rights and bought short segments from BNSF. The total mileage operated is 527 miles stretching from Kansas City, Missouri southeast to the Newport/Diaz area in, Arkansas. There are branches to Clinton, Fort Scott and Joplin plus a disconnected segment between Springfield and Wallis. The MP segment was part of their Kansas City – Memphis mainline. The former M-K-T segment was part of their main from St. Louis to Sedalia, Missouri.

Traffic includes coal (mostly in unit trains to a pair of on line power plants,) grain, chemicals, foodstuffs (much of it in cryogenic boxcars,) assorted minerals, steel, asphalt, and forest products.

MNA adopted the standard RailTex paint scheme of red and gray with white pinstriping. For several years, the full “Missouri & Northern Arkansas” name was applied to the long hood and “The White River Route” over the battery boxes but as the RailTex family grew, this was simplified to just initials on the cab.

The RailTex group was combined with the RailAmerica shortline group in 2000 but it appears that RailAmerica’s red, blue and silver paint scheme was a rare sight on the MNA. Now that RailAmerica has joined the Genesee & Wyoming group (in 2012), G&W orange units are commonplace on the MNA. This line also hosts Branson Scenic Railway’s Ozark Zephyr tourist train.

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.