Mississippi Southern Railroad Extends Line

On July 20, the Mississippi Southern Railroad (MSR) grew – a lot. The former 29-mile line extended its lease from the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) an additional 127 miles. Formerly, the line went north from Bay Springs, Mississippi, to Newton,Mississippi, where the line interchanged with the KCS. The new addition, the Louisville sub, goes north from Newton to West Point, Mississippi., but the line right now is only operational to Ackerman.

Michael Goss, General Manager, moved down from Watco’s PCC-Condon location in Oregon to manage the railroad operations, which has added eight locomotives and 17 team members to its roster.

“Start-up went really well,” said Goss. “We have a lot of top-quality, experienced team members. Brooke Beasley, Kylie Collier, and Lindsey Alexander from the People Services team did a tremendous job. They got after it and gave us top-quality candidates, and we were able to pick the best of the best. That was a huge blessing.”

“Everything was organized and we had a solid operating plan. Most of the credit for two of the jobs goes to our engineer, Danny Sims. He came up with an operating plan that makes the operations run smoothly, and it all flows together well.”

The first train rolled out and delivered cars to Tyson, switched Union Yard, and delivered the first cut of cars to KCS. Other customers served by the MSR include Biewer Sawmill, Georgia Pacific, Peco Foods, Tyson Foods, Weyerhaeuser, and Winston Plywood & Veneer,

Cody Gilliland, Sales Manager, said, “The feedback we received from customers after our first week was positive. We’ve got a broad customer base that we’re excited to work and grow with.

“The City of Louisville has also been very supportive and is working with us on growth-oriented projects that will be beneficial for both the city and the MSR,” he added.

The railroad has plans for upgrading track, and the rail yards and will have the ability to work on locomotives in Louisville in the new locomotive pit to ensure that things continue to run smoothly.

“Some of the customers on the line are experiencing one of the best years they’ve had due to COVID and people working on home-improvement projects,” said Gilliland. “One customer was already making plans to expand their capacity and ship more cars out of the Louisville area, so this could be an outstanding growth period for all the parties involved.”