The Fort Worth and Western Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Operating only within the state of Texas, its main freight service route is between Carrollton, Fort Worth and Brownwood.
History Much of the company's route originally belonged to the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway (FW&RG), which began construction from Fort Worth in 1886 and reached Brownwood in 1891. In 1901, the FW&RG was bought by the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (the Frisco), which sold it to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) in 1937. The Santa Fe sold the line to an affiliate of the South Orient Railroad in 1994.
The FWWR began operations in 1988, with of track that it had bought from the Burlington Northern Railroad. By the mid-1990s, the railroad operated of track, the result of numerous minor acquisitions. In 1996, the FWWR more than doubled its total trackage with the lease of a route from Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and in 1998 purchased of track from South Orient Railroad, now Texas Pacifico Transportation. The FWWR leased two Union Pacific Railroad properties, a yard and branch line, in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
Route The FWWR operates of track between Carro and Ricker, Texas, with branch lines from Dublin to Gorman and from Cresson to Cleburne, as well as trackage rights in the Fort Worth area and between Ricker and San Angelo Junction, Texas. Since 2007, the railroad has been in the process of resurfacing its trackage, as well as installing new sidings and upgrading the route, eventually to allow speeds over the entire line.
Company On December 27, 2010, Fort Worth and Western named Thomas Schlosser as president and CEO. He took over from Steven George, who had held the position since 2000. On August 19, 2015, Kevin Erasmus became president and CEO. The company's vice president and COO is Richard Green. The company employs around 85 people.
Fleet As of July 2023, the Fort Worth and Western's locomotive fleet (past and present) consists of the following: Number Type HistoryNickname1008, 1009, 1010GE AC4400CW2000EMD GP38-3Miss Molly2001Niles City2002Cowtown2003General Worth2004Comanche2005Maj. Ripley Arnold2006General Tarrant2007B.B. Paddock2008EMD GP50Panther City2009Chisolm Trail2010, 2011Miss Etta2012Chaparral2016EMD SD40-2Sundance Kid2017Kid Curry2019EMD GP38-2Apache2020EMD GP40-22021, 20222023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032EMD SD40-22036EMD SD60MTarantula2037Longhorn2038Mustang2039EMD GP60Cleburne
Former units
Number Type HistoryNickname103EMD GP7Ex-Conrail, nee-Penn Central, nee-NYC; retired104EMD F7AEx-B≤ retiredTexas Southern2013 (Rebuilt from 103)NRE 2GS14BLuke Short2014 (Rebuilt from 2785)Timothy Courtright2015EMD SD40-2Butch Cassidy2018Tarantula5004, 5007, 5020GMDD GP35Ex-CPRUnits belonging to the Grapevine Vintage Railroad2199 (GVRX)EMD GP7Vinny2248 (GVRX)Cooke Locomotive Works 4-6-0Puffy
References
External links
Fort Worth and Western Railroad