Crab Orchard and Egyptian

Company History: The Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railway (reporting mark COER) (formerly American Rail Heritage, Ltd. d/b/a Crab Orchard, and Egyptian Railroad Company) is a Class III common carrier shortline railroad that operates in the cities of Marion and Herrin in the Southern Illinois region. It is most historically recognized by the FRA for being the last U.S. railroad of any kind to use steam locomotives exclusively in regular revenue freight service up until March 1986.

The present-day shortline currently operates a total of 13.5 miles (21.7 km) of track across the industrial centers of Williamson County in two separate railroad districts with a fleet of two diesel switcher engines. One line is known as the "Marion District", which is the railroad's main working division with roughly 8.5 miles (13.7 km) of the track; and the other division is the "Herrin District", which mostly serves the city's manufacturing industries along a 5-mile (8.0 km) stretch of track.

It also has three different interchange points with two Class I railroads. Near their main offices in downtown Marion, the railroad has a junction with Union Pacific's Marion Subdivision; another interchange is located in the nearby Marion suburb of Bainbridge with BNSF Railway's Beardstown Subdivision. A second BNSF connection with the same line is also present in the Herrin district. Most of the CO&E Railroad's revenue freight products primarily consist of coal, lumber, petroleum, grain, steel, paper, chemicals, manufactured goods, and railcar repair service.

In late 2012, American Rail Heritage, Ltd. sold the railroad to Progressive Rail Incorporated, with December 19, 2012, being the final day of operations for the old company. The railroad is now known as Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railway, a Division of Progressive Rail Incorporated.From Wikipedia

Successor/Parent History: Progressive Rail (PGR) was launched in 1996 to take over operation on various industrial lines in the greater Minneapolis – St. Paul area. Not all of these lines connect with each other. Here are the lines which are all in Minnesota:

The Dan Patch Line from Nesbitt and Bloomington to Minneapolis. The Jesse James line from Northfield to Lakeville (leased from CP.) The Faribault Line Northfield to Faribault (leased from UP.) The Eagandale Line between Rosemont and Eagandale. (leased from CP.) The cargo mix is about what you would expect from a shortline serving a number of modern industrial parks: Plastics, chemicals, building supplies, scrap, paper, and metals. The PGR diesel roster includes six SW1500’s, one SD39, and one SD38-2.

The paint scheme is an homage to the Minneapolis Northfield & Southern, including the diamond shaped logo but with Progressive Rail lettering. PGR, after all, does operate most of the old MN&S route (see The Dan Patch Line above.) Three engines in the fleet were on the MN&S roster years ago.

The company also owns the Wisconsin Northern Railroad, Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railroad, Iowa Traction Railway, Chicago Junction, Chicago St. Paul & Pacific, Clackamas Valley Railway, Cannon Valley Railroad, Iowa Southern Railway, Piedmont & Northern Railroad, St. Paul & Pacific, St. Paul & Pacific Northwest Railroad and the Central Midland Railway.

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.