The Gloster Southern Railroad is a United States shortline railroad

Shortline railroad

A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the USA and Canada...

 that operates in 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...

 and Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. The GLSR began operation in 1986 and provides freight service from Gloster, Mississippi

Gloster, Mississippi

Gloster is a town in Amite County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,073 at the 2000 census. It is part of the McComb, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area.T. T...

, to the Illinois Central Railroad

Illinois Central Railroad

The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...

 (now Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

 - CN) interchange at Slaughter, Louisiana

Slaughter, Louisiana

Slaughter is a town in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,011 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.Slaughter was designated a town in 2002.-History:...

.

The line was owned by Georgia-Pacific

Georgia-Pacific

Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, packaging, building products and related chemicals. As of Fall 2010, the company employed more than 40,000 people at more...

 (GP) which had purchased and refurbished 35 miles (56.3 km) of an abandoned branch line to provide service to a GP plywood mill in Gloster. The GLSR operated two or three freight trains per week until the plant closed in December 2002. One year later, Genesee and Wyoming Inc acquired three short-line railroads from GP, however this sale did not include the GLSR.

In September 2005, GP announced that they would re-open the Gloster plywood mill however they did not continue to operate the GLSR. On January 6, 2007 a local railfan

Railfan

A railfan or rail buff , railway enthusiast or railway buff , or trainspotter , is a person interested in a recreational capacity in rail transport...

 observed a 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...

 (KCS) train heading north through Lobdell, Louisiana. Behind the three KCS locomotives was a former GLSR CF7

CF7

A CF7 is an EMD F-unit railroad locomotive that has had its streamlined carbody removed and replaced with a custom-made, "general purpose" body in order to adapt the unit for road switching duty. All of the conversions were performed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in their Cleburne,...

 locomotive which had its number boards covered with grey duct tape. The McComb Enterprise Journal reported on April 2, 2008, that the Georgia-Pacific Corporation is closing its railroad and that the town of Gloster was interested in the rail bed .

The Gloster Southern Railroad applied to discontinue service on its entire line in December 2009 and crews began removing the railway and roadbed. By June 2011, it was reported that all of the track had been moved and sold for recycle.

Equipment

No.	Builder	Build Date	Model	Purchase Date	Photo
1501	AT&SF Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...  #17954	May 1953	CF7 CF7 A CF7 is an EMD F-unit railroad locomotive that has had its streamlined carbody removed and replaced with a custom-made, "general purpose" body in order to adapt the unit for road switching duty. All of the conversions were performed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in their Cleburne,...	04/86
1502	AT&SF		CF7		Photo
903	AT&SF		SW900 EMD SW900 An EMD SW900 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between December 1953 and March 1969. Power was provided by an EMD 567C 8-cylinder engine that generated 900 horsepower...