Mississippi Delta

Company History: The MSDR was launched by the Gulf & Ohio Railways shortline group to run 51 miles of line from Swan Lake north to Jonestown in northwestern Mississippi. All but the northern most 10 miles of line was former Illinois Central. The north end was a private railroad owned by Delta Oil Mill. Traffic included carbon black, cotton seed byproducts, lint, soybeans and rubber. For the first decade, a typical week saw the movement of 75 loads. At that point, traffic began to fall off to less than a car a week by the year 2000. Parent company G&O planned to abandon the line but sold it to Coahoma County instead. G&O ran the line until 2001 as a “designated operator” before turning the keys over to C&J Railroad Company. In 2020 Rock Island Rail (technically Chicago Rock Island & Pacific LLC – no relation to the original CRI&P) took over as operator of this line under a revived “The Rock” flag. MSDR still exists as a corporate entity. Traffic now includes scrap, fertilizer, cotton, grain, farm products, paper and plastics.

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.