V&S Railway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The V&S Railway (reporting mark VSR) is a shortline railroad that operates two disconnected lines in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is affiliated with A&K Railroad Materials. The company acquired its first line, a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line between Medicine Lodge and a BNSF Railway junction at Attica, from the Central Kansas Railway in 2000. In 2006 it expanded its operations by acquiring from the Hutchinson and Northern Railway (reporting mark HN) a short segment of former interurban in eastern Hutchinson, where it interchanges with the BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad. Other railroads under common control with the V&S are the out-of-service Kern Valley Railroad in Colorado, the Gloster Southern Railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Grenada Railway and Natchez Railway in Mississippi, a portion of the former Rock Island from St. Louis to Union, Missouri operated by the Missouri Central and the Southern Manitoba Railway in Manitoba.
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Reporting mark | VSR |
| Locale | Central Kansas |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Southern Kansas Railway, a predecessor of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, opened a branch from Attica to Medicine Lodge in August 1885, and another Santa Fe predecessor, the Denver, Kansas and Gulf Railway, completed a line from Kiowa through Medicine Lodge to Belvidere in 1907.[1] In January 1993, the Central Kansas Railway took over operation from the Santa Fe on the remaining piece between Attica and Sun City,[citation needed] and in late 2000 the V&S Railway bought the line.[2][3] Abandonment between Medicine Lodge and Sun City was authorized in 2003.[4]
A portion of the Hutchinson line was opened by the Arkansas Valley Interurban Railway in December 1915 as the end of a line from Wichita,[5] and the Hutchinson and Northern Railway built the remainder in 1923 as a connecting electric freight line.[6] The H&N later acquired a piece of the interurban and dieselized its lines.[citation needed] The V&S acquired the entire property of the H&N in 2006.[7]
V&S previously operated the Towner line in Kiowa County, Colorado, prior to a forced sale to the newly-organized Colorado Pacific Railroad in 2014.[8]
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