New Orleans Lower Coast Railroad

[jacon12]

I'm new to the hobby so please bear with a question or two. I ran across this photo of a NOLR SW-1200 on a track in Cuthbert, a small town in S.W. Georgia, USA.

After a little research I find that it belongs to the New Orleans Lower Coast Railroad in Louisiana, USA.
1- how many of these very small railroads (shortlines?) are there in the U.S.?
2- why would a locomotive from this little railroad be over in Georgia on another small railroad?

I also found that the SW1200 was brought out in the early to mid 1950's. Are there still very many of them around?

Thanks,
Jacon

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12

1- how many of these very small railroads (shortlines?) are there in the U.S.?

Hundreds, maybe thousands. Someone else should have a more accurate number, but my point is that there are many of them.

QUOTE: 2- why would a locomotive from this little railroad be over in Georgia on another small railroad?

-The engine could have been leased by the Georgia RR.
-There are several companies that own more than one shortline or regional railroad, and one company could own both of those, and the engine could be needed more in Georgia at the time being.
-The Georgia RR could have recently bought the engine (while it normally takes awhile before engines in such shortlines/regionals get a complete repaint, you will normally see the original RR stencilled out rather quickly).

QUOTE: I also found that the SW1200 was brought out in the early to mid 1950's. Are there still very many of them around?

Depends on your definition of "very many", but yes, there are some still to be found here and there. There are even switchers from the '40s hangin' on in places.

---jps

[jacon12]

Thanks jps. I did find a couple of good articles on short lines and in one of them was this:
"In 1996 more than 500 shortline railroads operated 47,214 miles of road, approximately 27 percent of the U.S. rail network."
Jacon