Alexandria & Western

Company History: The A&W was chartered in 1909 with the goal of building a railroad to move lumber from Alexandria, Louisiana to points in Texas. Construction did not begin until 1913 when Bayou Rapides Lumber Company opened 8,000 acres of land along the proposed route to logging. A&W built 20 miles west from Alexandria, reaching Gardner, Louisiana. That’s as close to Texas as they ever got. The locomotive fleet included three 2-6-0’s, two of which were purchased new from Baldwin. Passenger service was provided with a 21’ long gas-mechanical railbus. The company lost money from the beginning and the railroad was abandoned in 1925.

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.