Grainbelt

Company History: The GNBC was established in 1987 as a subsidiary of Farmrail to purchase the 178 mile line from Enid south through Clinton and Snyder to Fredrick, Oklahoma from Burlington Northern. This was a former Frisco route. Grainbelt has about a dozen diesels, most wearing the Farmrail paint scheme but with GNBC reporting marks on the cab. Grainbelt has been in a good position to serve the region’s current energy boom with carloads of frac sand and crude oil swelling GNBC trains.

Successor/Parent History: Farmrail is one of several lines to be born from the 1980 shutdown of Rock Island. Beginning operations in 1981, Farmrail has a “t” shaped system running from Erick to Weatherford on one axis and Westhorn to Elmer on the other with the junction in Clinton, all in western Oklahoma. The total mileage is 186 (putting it between Columbus & Greenville and Bessemer & Lake Erie in relative size.) The Erick to Weatherford line is owned by the Oklahoma DOT with Farmrail being the designated operator.

They run the line with one SW7, one GP7, four GP9’s, and eight GP10’s. All geeps have had their short hoods lowered and carry a paint scheme that would be right at home on a carton of eggs. Nearly all of the units are named after Native-American tribes. Farmrail’s sister railroad Grainbelt runs parallel to the Westhorn – Elmer line but to the east. In recent years, Farmrail and Grainbelt have been picking up used GP38’s (in a couple of varieties) to help with heavier trains. Traffic supporting the oil business has either been substantial or absent – depending on the market price for crude at any given time.

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