Manufacturers Railway (St. Louis)

The Manufacturers Railway Company (reporting mark MRS) is a defunct railway company in St. Louis, Missouri. It was owned by Anheuser-Busch.

Manufacturers Railway Company
Overview
HeadquartersSt. Louis, Missouri
Reporting markMRS
LocaleMissouri
Dates of operation1887–2011
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

History

edit

The railway company was founded in 1887 by Adolphus Busch, the president of Anheuser-Busch.[1] By 1906, Busch was still president while William D. Orthwein was vice president.[2]

The company's line connected with the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis and the Alton and Southern Railroad in East St. Louis, Illinois. The MRS accessed the Alton and Southern Railroad using trackage rights over the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis via the MacArthur Bridge.[3] MRS owned railroad cars used to transport Anheuser-Busch's products. It also provided locomotive maintenance and painting services to other companies.[4]

On March 25, 2011, it was announced that Anheuser-Busch had applied to shut down the MRS, after the brewery began shipping outbound products via truck instead of rail.[5] However, on April 8, Foster Townsend Rail Logistics (reporting marks: FTRL) announced that it planned to take over operations of the line once Manufacturers Railway ceased operations.[6] On October 2, 2011, FTRL Railway began providing rail switching services at Anheuser Busch's St. Louis brewery.[7]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Manufacturers Railway Company, Union Pacific (retrieved 10 April 2015)
  2. ^ "Busch to Tunnel Under the River. Manufacturers' Railway Plans $3,000,000 Route Through the Mississippi for New Terminal System. New Gulf Road for City. Kansas City Southern to Enter St. Louis--Bush Making War on Iron Mountain--St. Paul's Activity". Alton Evening Telegraph. Alton, Illinois. January 20, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved October 8, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.  
  3. ^ "St. Louis Railfanning - Manufacturers Railway Company".
  4. ^ "Short Line Railroads".
  5. ^ "Manufacturers Railway applies to shut down". Trains Magazine. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Anheuser-Busch route to survive under new operator". Trains Magazine. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  7. ^ "FTRL Railway Begins Switching Operations at Anheuser Busch « FTRL Railway". Archived from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-04-09.

Further reading

edit
edit