HISTORY by Tony Howe:
In 1905-06, the railroad was built through here on its way from Pontotoc
to Houston, Ackerman and Louisville by the Gulf
& Chicago Railroad, which was controlled by the Mobile
Jackson & Kansas City RR until the two railroads merged on December
1, 1909 to form the New Orleans Mobile &
Chicago Railroad. This railroad was reorganized on January 1, 1917 to
become the Gulf Mobile & Northern Railroad.
This railroad, in turn, merged with the Mobile & Ohio on September 13,
1940 to form the Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
This railroad operated until it was merged with the Illinois Central
Railroad on August 10, 1972 to form Illinois Central Gulf RR. The remainder
of the former GM&O lines in Mississippi was sold off to the newly formed
Gulf & Mississippi Railroad on July 10, 1985, who abandoned the railroad
from Houston to Woodland shortly afterwards. Gulf & Mississippi RR was
bought by Midsouth Rail on April 14, 1988, which was then bought by Kansas
City Southern RR in 1994. In 1998, KCS sold the line from Houston to
Middleton TN to North American Railnet, Inc., who formed the Mississippi
Tennessee Railnet to operate the line. In 2003, Mississippi-Tennessee
Railnet was sold to Ironhorse Resources, Inc., who changed the name to
Mississippi Tennessee Railroad. In 2004, this company filed to abandon 43.2
miles of track from New Albany to Houston. The track was removed and a
recreational trail, known as the "Tanglefoot Trail" is being built
on the right-of-way.
INDUSTRY (per Dun & Bradstreet)-
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