R.J. Corman Railroad Group
Encyclopedia
R.J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC is a railroad holding company
owned by Richard J. "Rick" Corman. Corman first established the company in 1973. It owns short-line railroad lines in seven states (Indiana
, Kentucky
, Mississippi
, Ohio
, Pennsylvania
, Tennessee
, and West Virginia
).
Richard Corman also owns R.J. Corman Railroad Property and a controlling interest in the Clearfield and Mahoning Railway, both non-operating subsidiaries.
services & cleanup across the United States, distribution center
s, and train loading facilities, as well as aviation
services including aircraft maintenance, including its own private airport, Lucas Field, at its headquarters in Nicholasville, Kentucky
. R.J. Corman also operates The My Old Kentucky Dinner Train which includes a monthly murder mystery train, as well as special holiday trains such as the North Pole Express, a Christmas themed train and the Wizard express, a Halloween themed train, which are geared more towards young kids. This passenger train operate on the Bardstown Line in Kentucky.
was built in 1860, and is located in Bardstown, Kentucky
. By 1953, the depot shut down due to the end of the passenger train era. In 1992, the depot was refurnished for the R.J. Corman dinner trains and reopened, and once again serves many passenger trains each year. Some of R.J. Corman's lines have undergone major rehabilitation with the help of local and state governments. R.J. Corman began its operations on the original lines in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania in 1987, and acquired/rehabilitated many lines in the 1990s. They've reopened many Railbanked lines, and in Pennsylvania, they began an attempt in 2008 to reopen a fully abandoned non-railbanked corridor, though no decision has yet been made. It is to serve a new industrial park, landfill, and quarry. R.J. Corman Railroad Group announced on June 18, 2009 that it had acquired the assets of Railpower Technologies Corp
, and its U.S. subsidiary, Railpower Hybrid Technologies.
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
owned by Richard J. "Rick" Corman. Corman first established the company in 1973. It owns short-line railroad lines in seven states (Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, and West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
).
Lines Owned
R.J. Corman operates the following subsidiaries:- R.J. Corman Railroad/Allentown Lines (Pennsylvania)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Bardstown Line (Kentucky)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Central Kentucky Lines (Kentucky)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Cleveland Line (Ohio)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Memphis Line (Kentucky and Tennessee)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania LinesR.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania LinesR.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines is a railroad in the R.J. Corman Railroad Group, operating a number of lines in central Pennsylvania. It primarily carries coal between mines and Norfolk Southern Railway connections at Cresson and Keating...
(Pennsylvania) - R.J. Corman Railroad/Tennessee Terminal (Mississippi and Tennessee)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Western Ohio Line (Indiana and Ohio)
- R.J. Corman Railroad/West Virginia Line (West Virginia)
Richard Corman also owns R.J. Corman Railroad Property and a controlling interest in the Clearfield and Mahoning Railway, both non-operating subsidiaries.
Services and operations
In addition to operating rail lines, R.J. Corman has offered services to the rail industry including construction and maintenance, derailmentDerailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....
services & cleanup across the United States, distribution center
Distribution center
A distribution center for a set of products is a warehouse or other specialized building, often with refrigeration or air conditioning, which is stocked with products to be redistributed to retailers, to wholesalers, or directly to consumers. A distribution center is a principal part, the order...
s, and train loading facilities, as well as aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
services including aircraft maintenance, including its own private airport, Lucas Field, at its headquarters in Nicholasville, Kentucky
Nicholasville, Kentucky
Nicholasville is the 11th largest city in state of Kentucky and the county seat of Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 19,680 at the 2000 census...
. R.J. Corman also operates The My Old Kentucky Dinner Train which includes a monthly murder mystery train, as well as special holiday trains such as the North Pole Express, a Christmas themed train and the Wizard express, a Halloween themed train, which are geared more towards young kids. This passenger train operate on the Bardstown Line in Kentucky.
History and roots
R.J. Corman's passenger train depotOld L & N Station
The Old L & N Station in the northernmost section of the Bardstown Historic District of Bardstown, Kentucky is an historic railroad station on the National Register of Historic Places. Long owned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad , it is currently used as the station for the My Old Kentucky...
was built in 1860, and is located in Bardstown, Kentucky
Bardstown, Kentucky
As of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...
. By 1953, the depot shut down due to the end of the passenger train era. In 1992, the depot was refurnished for the R.J. Corman dinner trains and reopened, and once again serves many passenger trains each year. Some of R.J. Corman's lines have undergone major rehabilitation with the help of local and state governments. R.J. Corman began its operations on the original lines in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania in 1987, and acquired/rehabilitated many lines in the 1990s. They've reopened many Railbanked lines, and in Pennsylvania, they began an attempt in 2008 to reopen a fully abandoned non-railbanked corridor, though no decision has yet been made. It is to serve a new industrial park, landfill, and quarry. R.J. Corman Railroad Group announced on June 18, 2009 that it had acquired the assets of Railpower Technologies Corp
RailPower Technologies
Railpower Technologies Corp. is a subsidiary of R.J. Corman Railroad Group that builds environmentally friendly hybrid and genset yard locomotives, founded by Frank Donnelly and Gerard Koldyk...
, and its U.S. subsidiary, Railpower Hybrid Technologies.