V&S_Railway

V&S Railway

V&S Railway

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For the former railway on Vancouver Island, see Victoria and Sidney Railway.

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.

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History

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]

Former lines

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]

References

  1. [1]
    Interstate Commerce Commission, 127 I.C.C. 1 (1927): Valuation Docket No. 625, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company et al.
  2. [2]
    V&S Railway: Medicine Lodge, KS, accessed February 2009
  3. [3]
    STB Finance Docket No. 33964, December 7, 2000
  4. [4]
    STB Docket No. AB-603 (Sub-No. 1X), August 13, 2003
  5. [5]
    George W. Hilton and John F. Due, The Electric Interurban Railways in America, 1960, p. 371
  6. [6]
    Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide, 5th Edition, Kalmbach Publishing, 1996, p. 153
  7. [7]
    V&S Railway: Hutchinson, KS, accessed February 2009
  8. [8]
    Waggoner, Priscilla. ""I HEAR THAT TRAIN A-COMIN'…" THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY". Kiowa County Independent. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
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