Does anyone have information on a short line, named the Tidewater Railway? Or possibly Tide Water Railway? I am aware of the fact one existed about a hundred years ago. A Virginian RY predecessor. Long gone. But is there a recent operation using the same name? Boxcab E50
Info, useless to this issue, on the old Tidewater. Interesting, though. http://www.answers.com/topic/tidewater-railway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidewater_Railway A bit more info on the original Tidewater. The only other railroad I could find info on was the Tidewater & Southern, a Western Pacific subsidiary: http://www.tidewatersouthern.com/ HTH
Wasn't there a Tidewater & Tonopah RR that connected with the Virginia and Truckee in the Mother Load country of Nevada? Prototype was possibly 1880 or so and maybe gone by 1930, just a guess... Virginia and Truckee lasted a while longer--- and I believe a section of it is back as a tourist RR. V&T 4-4-0 American-type locos used in many motion pictures. Two in Paramount's "Union Pacific". I think 4-4-0 "Genoa" was sold in MGM studio sale of late 1960s to Old Tucson. I believe Roundhouse made some HO cars lettered for Tidewater & Tonopah ca 1970. Could this possibly be the Tidewater you heard of?
IIRC, the Tidewater & Tonopah was described as being built "400 miles too long or 400 years too soon".
That would have been the Tonopah & Tidewater Railway. But I doubt there's any connection to the alleged company I'm seeking. Boxcab E50
The Tidewater Railway was abolished in April 1995 and re-established as the Western Kentucky Railway, L.L.C. the same month and same year and is still active. No other railroad is currently using the "Tidewater RR" name. There are however, two others that used the name Tidewater: The Tidewater Grain Co. (TWGX) abolished in July of 1986; and Tidewater Oil, (TWOX) which was a subsidiary of Getty Oil (TWOX) and abolished April 1972.
Bill- Sounds as though the Tidewater RY was short lived? Do you happen to know when it first started operating? Thanks! Boxcab E50
Upon re-examining my source material, I found two more entries: Tidewater Souther Ry (TSO) established 4/38 eliminated 1/52; Tidewater Southern Ry Co, (TS) 10/57 - 1/80 eliminated 10/87. Taken over by Union Pacific 10/87 and eliminated 4/88. Could it be possible that what you are looking for pre-dates the records?
Bill- It's actually a friend of mine who is curious. He's not on the 'Net. So I'm asking for him. All we knew, was that it was a spinoff shortline. Somewhere. With what you've presented, we now know it's location. Now just looking to see when it was spun off. Being the WKRY, we can see the line was once part of ICG. Did they sell it? Or was it IC Corp? We have the April, 1995 date you found. And our guess it it wasn't around very long. My friend did find a very brief mention in an ORER of a few years ago. I don't have that date handy. Boxcab E50
I can't find any info on the WKRY .. do you mean the WKRL (Western Kentucky Ry LLC)? ICG, Illinois Central Gulf RR: established 1/75; eliminated 4/88 (same time as when Union Pacific eliminated the Tidewater Southern (TS). Could it be that UP and TS were connected somehow through ICG? ICRR Co (Illinois Central Railroad Co) was first established 4/88 and the last update I have is that it is still active as of 7/2000.
Yes. WKRL. Just a typo. Yes. Do know IC Corp is still active. But wondering when/why, they, or ICG, spun this trackage off? According to what we've now found, it can produce up to 20,000 loads a year. Mostly coal. Seems worth hanging on to that much! After all this bouncing around, am wondering if the correct name is not Tide Water Railway. Rather, it may be the TRADEwater RY. Boxcab E50
It's possible that he was referring to the North Carolina & Virginia Railroad, which is nicknamed the Tidewater Railway .
I suppose this is indeed possible. Will talk with my friend this evening. Railfanning is serious work! Boxcab E50
