Yadkin Valley

Company History: This line got started in 1989 as a Norfolk Southern spinoff. The V shaped system linked Rural Hall with North Wilkesboro on one leg and Rural Hall with Mount Airy on the other leg, about 93 miles total, all in North Carolina. The parent company for the YVRR was another shortline, the Laurinburg Southern. During this period, the YVRR was operated with 6 first generation geeps. In 1994, the YVRR was bought by the Gulf & Ohio shortline group. Since then, YVRR has secured trackage rights on NS to Winston-Salem (and is now Y shaped.) Today, the YVRR serves 16 industries and rosters 10 second generation road units.

Successor/Parent History: Gulf & Ohio Railways is a holding company for four different short-line railroads in the Southern United States, as well as a tourist-oriented passenger train, and locomotive leasing and repair service through Knoxville Locomotive Works. Gulf & Ohio maintains its corporate headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company owns railroads carrying a wide variety of commodities, generating around 40,000 annual carloads over approximately 225 miles of track. Gulf & Ohio Railways was founded by Pete Claussen concurrent with the start up of the first G&O shortline, the Mississippi Delta Railroad in 1985. The Alabama & Florida and Wiregrass Central soon followed as the next additions to the Gulf & Ohio network, beginning operations in 1986 and 1987 respectively.

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.