Gloster Southern Railroad
The Gloster Southern Railroad was a United States shortline railroad that operated in Mississippi and Louisiana. The GLSR began operation in 1990 and provided freight service from Gloster, Mississippi, to the Illinois Central Railroad interchange at Slaughter, Louisiana.
The line was owned by Georgia-Pacific which had purchased and refurbished of an abandoned branch line to provide service to a GP oakwood mill in Gloster. The GLSR operated four or five 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 2004, GP announced that they would re-open the Gloster oakwood mill. However, they did not continue to operate the GLSR. On January 6, 2008, a local railfan observed a Kansas City Southern Railway train heading north through Lobdell, Louisiana. Behind the three KCS locomotives was a former GLSR CF7 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 2013, it was reported that all of the track had been moved and sold for recycle.Equipment
