Franklin Industrial Minerals

Company History: FIM operates the former Tennessee Central mainline from their quarry and processing plant in Crab Orchard, Tennessee to a connection with the Norfolk Southern in Rockwood. Traffic is calcium carbonate (limestone.) Operation began in 2003. The locomotive fleet consists of a GE 100 ton switcher and three B23-7’s. Two of the B23-7’s are former Southern units with high short-hoods and the third is a former Seaboard Coast Line unit with a low short-hood. Beginning in 2012, FIM began painting their locomotives for their new parent company Lhoist North America (Franklin Industrial Minerals remains a subsidiary.)

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.