Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis
Encyclopedia
Terminal Railroad
Terminal Railroad or Terminal Railway may refer to:*Terminal railroad, a railroad that operates a terminal facility*Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks*Terminal Railway of Buffalo, predecessor of the New York Central Railroad...
owned by railroads in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
which handles traffic through its metropolitan area.
Components
It was founded in 1889 in a deal orchestrated by Jay GouldJay Gould
Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...
by:
- Missouri Pacific RailroadMissouri Pacific RailroadThe Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...
- St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern RailwaySt. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern RailwayThe St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway was a historic railroad that operated in Missouri, and Arkansas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
- Wabash RailroadWabash RailroadThe Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including trackage in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Ontario. Its primary connections included Chicago, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri, Detroit,...
- Ohio and Mississippi RailroadOhio and Mississippi RailroadThe Ohio and Mississippi Railway was a railroad operating between Cincinnati, Ohio, and East St. Louis, Illinois, from 1857 to 1893.General Ormsby M. Mitchel was a civil engineer on this project....
- Louisville and Nashville RailroadLouisville and Nashville RailroadThe Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...
- Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis RailwayCleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis RailwayThe Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States....
Its current owners are:
- BNSF RailwayBNSF RailwayThe BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
(1/7) - Canadian National RailwayCanadian National RailwayThe Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
(1/7) - CSX TransportationCSX TransportationCSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
(1/7) - Norfolk Southern RailwayNorfolk Southern RailwayThe Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
(1/7) - Union Pacific RailroadUnion Pacific RailroadThe Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
(3/7)
It also connects with the Kansas City Southern Railway
Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway , owned by Kansas City Southern Industries, is the smallest and second-oldest Class I railroad company still in operation. KCS was founded in 1887 and is currently operating in a region consisting of ten central U.S. states...
; the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
is the only Class I railroad
Class I railroad
A Class I railroad in the United States and Mexico, or a Class I rail carrier in Canada, is a large freight railroad company, as classified based on operating revenue.Smaller railroads are classified as Class II and Class III...
that does not reach St. Louis.
History
The railroad's predecessor companies in St. Louis date to 1797 when St. Louis was still part of Spanish Upper LouisianaLouisiana (New Spain)
Louisiana was the name of an administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1764 to 1803 that represented territory west of the Mississippi River basin, plus New Orleans...
. James Piggott was granted a license to operate a ferry between St. Louis and Illinoistown (now East St. Louis). Piggott's heirs sold the ferry to Samuel Wiggins in 1819. Wiggins bought 800 acres (3.2 km²) in East St. Louis including Bloody Island. Wiggins used a team of eight horses to propel the ferries. In 1828 he began steam-power ferry service across the river.
In 1832 Wiggins sold his company and the new owners called the new company the Wiggins Ferry Service which would develop the Wiggins property as a rail yard. In 1870 the ferry began porting rail cars across the river one car at a time until the construction of the Eads Bridge.
When the Terminal Railroad was incorporated in 1889, railroads owned most of the Wiggins Ferry property. In 1902 when the Rock Island Line joined the Terminal Railroad, the ownership of the Wiggins Illinois property was complete.
The Association built Union Station (St. Louis). It owns the Merchants Bridge
Merchants Bridge
The Merchants Bridge is a rail bridge crossing the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. It opened in May 1889 and crossed the river three miles north of the Eads Bridge....
and MacArthur Bridge (St. Louis)
MacArthur Bridge (St. Louis)
The MacArthur Bridge over the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois is a 647 foot long truss bridge. Construction on the bridge was begun in 1909 by the city of St. Louis to break the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis's monopoly on the area's railroad...
, the latter which it received in 1989 in a swap with the City of St. Louis in exchange of title for the Eads Bridge
Eads Bridge
The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois....
.
In the early years the Association was at odds with the St. Louis Merchants Exchange
Merchants Exchange Building (St. Louis)
The Merchants Exchange Building was a building at Third Street at Chestnut and Pine in St. Louis, Missouri from 1875 to 1958 that housed the St. Louis Merchants Exchange and hosted the 1876 Democratic National Convention....
. The Exchange built the Eads Bridge but lost control to the Terminal Railroad. The Exchange then built the Merchants Bridge to keep the Terminal Railroad from having a monopoly. The Exchange then lost control of that bridge also to the Terminal Railroad.
The railroad's practice of charging a tariff to coal trains crossing the Mississippi River would result in several industries locating in Illinois rather than Missouri. The steelmaking town of Granite City, Illinois
Granite City, Illinois
Granite City is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States, part of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. At the 2010 census, the population was 29,849, making it the third largest city in the Metro-East and Southern Illinois, behind Alton and Belleville...
was founded to avoid the tariffs..
Awards and recognition
For four consecutive years beginning in 2001, TRRA was the recipient of the Gold E. H. Harriman Award for safety in the Switching and Terminal railroad class.Lines
The TRRA operates the following lines:- Merchants Subdivision: Grand Avenue (BNSF/UP) via Union Station, Gratiot Street (UP), Poplar Street (UP), North Market Street (BNSF/NS), West Approach, Merchants BridgeMerchants BridgeThe Merchants Bridge is a rail bridge crossing the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. It opened in May 1889 and crossed the river three miles north of the Eads Bridge....
, and "SH" to "WR" (KCS/NS/UP) - Illinois Transfer Subdivision: "SH" via "CP" (NS), Willows (CSX/KCS), and Southern (NS) to Valley Junction (KCS/UP)
- MacArthur Bridge Subdivision: Gratiot Street (UP) via South Approach Junction (UP), MacArthur BridgeMacArthur Bridge (St. Louis)The MacArthur Bridge over the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois is a 647 foot long truss bridge. Construction on the bridge was begun in 1909 by the city of St. Louis to break the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis's monopoly on the area's railroad...
, North Approach Junction, and East Approach (Alton and Southern Railway) to Valley Junction (KCS/UP) - North Belt Subdivision: West Approach via May Street (NS) and Carrie Avenue to Baden Yard (BNSF)
- West Belt Subdivision: Carrie Avenue to Rock Island Junction (Central Midland RailwayCentral Midland RailwayThe Central Midland Railway is a railroad in the U.S. state of Missouri, operating under lease the line of the Missouri Central Railroad , the former St. Louis Subdivision of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The CMR only uses a small part of the line which used to stretch from St....
) - Eads Subdivision: North Approach Junction via "Q" (CSX/KCS/UP) to "CP"