Appalachian and Ohio Railroad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Appalachian and Ohio Railroad (AAR reporting marks AO) is a class III railroad operating in West Virginia.
Originally the Cowen and Pickens Subdivisions of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the railroad was a part of CSX until it was bought by Watco Companies, which began operating the railroad on March 25, 2005.[1] Watco only held the line for a short time before selling it to Four Rivers Transportation on May 15, 2006.[2]
The railroad operates 158 miles of track between Grafton and Cowen.[2] It has no branches, except for a short line that connects Alexander to the main line at Hampton.[3]
The AO's main customers are coal mines, although it carries smaller amounts of chemicals and wood.[2] Among the six coal mines it serves is the Sago Mine, site of the Sago Mine disaster in 2006.[3]
It connects with four other railroads:[3]
- CSX, at Grafton
- Beech Mountain Railroad (BEEM), at Alexander
- Elk River Railroad (ELKR), at Burnsville
- West Virginia Central Railroad (WVC), at Tygart
Of these railroads, only CSX and WVC operate currently; the ELKR closed in 1999, and the BEEM closed in 2000.[4]
[edit] Locomotive Roster
The A&O railroad uses EMD locomotives to move the empty and loaded cars to and from customers. They currently have two SD90's (#s 125 and 130), four GP38-3's (#s 2631, 2634,2638, and 2662), two GP38-2's (#s 2665 and 2670), one GP40-2 mother (#2113) and a GP40 slug (#2114). All Watco motive power, including seven SD50's and five GP38's went to other Watco operations.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ A&O, Watco, 2005. Accessed 2007-07-22.
- ^ a b c A & O Railroad, Appalachian and Ohio Railroad, 2006. Accessed 2007-07-22.
- ^ a b c System map, Appalachian and Ohio Railroad, 2006. Accessed 2007-07-22.
- ^ An Introduction to the Railroads of the Region, Northern WV's Railroads, 2002. Accessed 2007-07-22.
- ^ Komanesky, John and Moyers, Brad (2007). Appalachian and Ohio Railroad Locomotives, [1] Accessed 2007-12-09.
