CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Western Railroad, the newest short line of Jaguar Transport Holdings, began operations Monday, May 2, as contract operator on 13 miles of track owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
“We are excited for the opportunity to establish our first operation in North Carolina and the southeastern US,” Jaguar CEO Stu Towner said in a press release. “The railroad’s location, in a growing metro with access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX, along with the acquisition of a rail-served warehouse, provides us with an excellent opportunity to serve current and future customers and earn the right to grow alongside them and the local community.”
Towner said the railroad plans to work with NCDOT build a multi-commodity, multi-mode transload facility at the warehouse property. “This project, along with our focused commercial efforts to build sites along the railroad that are ready for new customers, makes this a fantastic solution for customers in the Charlotte market,” he said.
Charlotte Western is the eighth short line for Jaguar, which has financial support from OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest pension plans. Other Jaguar properties include the Missouri Eastern, Cimarron Valley, Southwestern, Washington Eastern, Oregon Eastern, Texas Eastern, and West Memphis Base railroads.
Perhaps should more correct called the Gastonia Eastern RR.
I am pretty sure this is the Piedmont and Northern. Runs from Mt. Holly west to Gastonia.
Looking at a different NC DOT map, I agree with Mr. Shoemaker. See the map at
https://connect.ncdot.gov/resources/Rail-Division-Resources/Documents/NCDOT%20Owned%20and%20Preserved%20Rail%20Corridor%20Map-May%202017.pdf.
Item #4 shows the line connecting to both NS & CSX.
The PR release does not say where.
“We are excited for the opportunity to establish our first operation in North Carolina and the southeastern US,” said Stu Towner, CEO of Jaguar. “The railroad’s location, in a growing metro with access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX, along with the acquisition of a rail served warehouse, ”
I looked at the NC rail map and it shows trackage around Dunham that has no operator.
https://ncdot.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=352556db969240c99a06a179f56b8403
If you paste this into your browser, you can see what I saw.
I think this may possibly be former Piedmont Northern trackage.
13 miles of track…where, exactly?