The NT&O/T&GN Story - 3
Georgia Pacific goes "All-In"
(The Below Story is Fiction)
August 10, 1972 - The culmination of nearly three years of work which would secure Georgia Pacific's launch into the Class I railroad business is executed with the stroke of a pen!
Anticipation of the Illinois Central Gulf Merger as well as the implications of deregulation of the U.S. rail industry prompted Georgia Pacific's executive team to task its Transportation Department to undertake a study of the impact and opportunities that these events would have on its business. Specifically, Georgia Pacific wanted to know if these changes to the rail transportation infrastructure would support the company’s projected rate of growth. Because of political discussions about a new trade deal between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Georgia Pacific knew that a possible explosion in production in Mexico meant a corresponding demand for packaging. This meant that trees and paper and cardboard with access to the new markets was imperative!
June 30, 1972 - Concurrent with the first alarming report back to senior leadership that there was in-fact a severe gap between the capacity of the current rail infrastructure to meet demand in projected growth corridors was the announcement by the Illinois Central and the Gulf Mobile and Ohio railroads of their intent to merge.
Under the leadership of Mr. S. Russell Tedder, Georgia Pacific's President of Shortline Railroads and Director of Corporate Rail Services, a business plan requiring swift action was put on paper, approved by corporate, and executed in the interim.
Mr. Tedder was the President of all of Georgia Pacific's railroads including the Ashley Drew and Northern, Fordyce and Princeton, Arkansas and Louisiana Missouri, Chattahoochee Industrial, and Gloster Southern Railroads. He was connected, well respected, and knew all the right people to make this happen.
Specifically the business plan outlined the creation of two large 'Regional" sized railroads that if combined would be considered a "Class I" Railroad. The swift actions recommended were three-fold:
First was strike a deal with the Santa Fe, Frisco, and Burlington Northern railroads that would capitalize on the new freedoms of deregulation. The cumulative acquisition by Georgia Pacific of non-core routes of these three railroads to include the Creek, Medill, DFW, Houston, Conroe, and Longview Subdivisions was negotiated. Included in the negotiations with the Frisco was trackage rights from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Kansas City, Missouri. This reciprocal agreement afforded the Frisco trackage rights from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dallas, Texas. This would become Georgia Pacific's "Texas and Great Northern Railway" which was designed to protect the transportation needs of the paper industry in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana.
Second was to create an alignment of unlikely low-profile railroads to create a controllable artery from the timber-rich, paper producing regions in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas to the anticipated paper/packaging markets in Mexico.
Mr. Tedder and his team had identified the necessary components to be the Natchez Trace Railroad which extended from Chattanooga, TN to Vicksburg, MS; Meridian & Bigbee Railroad from the L&N connection at Myrtlewood, AL to Meridian, MS; IC (ICG) which had feeder lines in Mississippi and a core mainline from Meridian, MS to Shreveport, LA (all of what would become MidSouth Rail); the Kansas City Southern mainline from Shreveport, LA to Dallas, TX; and part of the former Burlington-Rock Island in the Dallas Fort Worth area. From here the Santa Fe lines from Fort Worth to Brownwood, San Angelo, and Fort Stockton would extend this railroad to the Texas/Mexico Presidio/Ojinaga border crossing. (This Santa Fe territory in the real world would eventually become short line railroads Fort Worth and Western and South Orient). All of this would become Georgia Pacific's "Natchez Trace and Orient Railway" soon to be nicknamed the “Meridian Speedway”.
All parties involved were an easy sell except for the KCS which balked at giving up its mainline between Shreveport, LA and Dallas, TX as well as the branch from Zacha Jct in Dallas to the Santa Fe at Metro, TX. In order to get the KCS on-board, provisions were written to grant the KCS a trackage rights agreement that allowed up to five trains per day each way between Shreveport, LA and Dallas, TX; three trains per day each way between Shreveport, LA and Meridian, MS; one train each way per day from Shreveport, LA to Vicksburg, MS for interchange with the Mississippi Central Railroad; and one train each way per day from Shreveport, LA to Vicksburg, MS for interchange with the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad.
The third and final recommendation was to form a Mexican Subsidiary to secure the operation of the railroad from Ojinaga to Monterrey and beyond. This key piece of railroad had to be upgraded and accessible in order for the NT&O to reach its full potential. The Mexican Railway Subsidiary of the Georgia Pacific operation would be called the Chihuahua Rio Fuerte y Pacifico - later shortened to “Rio Pacifico”.
Anticipation of the Illinois Central Gulf Merger as well as the implications of deregulation of the U.S. rail industry prompted Georgia Pacific's executive team to task its Transportation Department to undertake a study of the impact and opportunities that these events would have on its business. Specifically, Georgia Pacific wanted to know if these changes to the rail transportation infrastructure would support the company’s projected rate of growth. Because of political discussions about a new trade deal between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Georgia Pacific knew that a possible explosion in production in Mexico meant a corresponding demand for packaging. This meant that trees and paper and cardboard with access to the new markets was imperative!
June 30, 1972 - Concurrent with the first alarming report back to senior leadership that there was in-fact a severe gap between the capacity of the current rail infrastructure to meet demand in projected growth corridors was the announcement by the Illinois Central and the Gulf Mobile and Ohio railroads of their intent to merge.
Under the leadership of Mr. S. Russell Tedder, Georgia Pacific's President of Shortline Railroads and Director of Corporate Rail Services, a business plan requiring swift action was put on paper, approved by corporate, and executed in the interim.
Mr. Tedder was the President of all of Georgia Pacific's railroads including the Ashley Drew and Northern, Fordyce and Princeton, Arkansas and Louisiana Missouri, Chattahoochee Industrial, and Gloster Southern Railroads. He was connected, well respected, and knew all the right people to make this happen.
Specifically the business plan outlined the creation of two large 'Regional" sized railroads that if combined would be considered a "Class I" Railroad. The swift actions recommended were three-fold:
First was strike a deal with the Santa Fe, Frisco, and Burlington Northern railroads that would capitalize on the new freedoms of deregulation. The cumulative acquisition by Georgia Pacific of non-core routes of these three railroads to include the Creek, Medill, DFW, Houston, Conroe, and Longview Subdivisions was negotiated. Included in the negotiations with the Frisco was trackage rights from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Kansas City, Missouri. This reciprocal agreement afforded the Frisco trackage rights from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dallas, Texas. This would become Georgia Pacific's "Texas and Great Northern Railway" which was designed to protect the transportation needs of the paper industry in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana.
Second was to create an alignment of unlikely low-profile railroads to create a controllable artery from the timber-rich, paper producing regions in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas to the anticipated paper/packaging markets in Mexico.
Mr. Tedder and his team had identified the necessary components to be the Natchez Trace Railroad which extended from Chattanooga, TN to Vicksburg, MS; Meridian & Bigbee Railroad from the L&N connection at Myrtlewood, AL to Meridian, MS; IC (ICG) which had feeder lines in Mississippi and a core mainline from Meridian, MS to Shreveport, LA (all of what would become MidSouth Rail); the Kansas City Southern mainline from Shreveport, LA to Dallas, TX; and part of the former Burlington-Rock Island in the Dallas Fort Worth area. From here the Santa Fe lines from Fort Worth to Brownwood, San Angelo, and Fort Stockton would extend this railroad to the Texas/Mexico Presidio/Ojinaga border crossing. (This Santa Fe territory in the real world would eventually become short line railroads Fort Worth and Western and South Orient). All of this would become Georgia Pacific's "Natchez Trace and Orient Railway" soon to be nicknamed the “Meridian Speedway”.
All parties involved were an easy sell except for the KCS which balked at giving up its mainline between Shreveport, LA and Dallas, TX as well as the branch from Zacha Jct in Dallas to the Santa Fe at Metro, TX. In order to get the KCS on-board, provisions were written to grant the KCS a trackage rights agreement that allowed up to five trains per day each way between Shreveport, LA and Dallas, TX; three trains per day each way between Shreveport, LA and Meridian, MS; one train each way per day from Shreveport, LA to Vicksburg, MS for interchange with the Mississippi Central Railroad; and one train each way per day from Shreveport, LA to Vicksburg, MS for interchange with the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad.
The third and final recommendation was to form a Mexican Subsidiary to secure the operation of the railroad from Ojinaga to Monterrey and beyond. This key piece of railroad had to be upgraded and accessible in order for the NT&O to reach its full potential. The Mexican Railway Subsidiary of the Georgia Pacific operation would be called the Chihuahua Rio Fuerte y Pacifico - later shortened to “Rio Pacifico”.
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