Genesee & Wyoming history

The company traces its history to the 1899 founding of the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Co., itself a successor of the Genesee & Wyoming Valley Railway in Livingston County, Pennsylvania.

Net income dropped as low as $30,000, but the company never lost money and continued its tradition, established in 1900, of paying quarterly dividends.

Hence, on February 4, 1906, he established The Atlanta & St Andrews Bay Railroad (ASAB). Steele was even able to convince other area business owners of the railroad’s potential and succeeded in securing funding to finish the line from Asa Candler, founder of Coca-Cola.

By 1913, the company's gross income had reached $113,855 with net income of $71,250.

By 1920 the Genesee & Wyoming, still running on a little over 17 miles of track, had purchased two passenger coaches as well as six locomotives and two cabooses.

In 1930, ASAB was acquired by International Paper Company.

September 1, 1977 Genesee and Wyoming Inc. incorporates in the State of Delaware.

Operating revenues were $3.3 million and net income $662,000 in 1978.

1980 The Staggers Act deregulates railroads, which are then allowed to dispose of routes that they could not operate profitably, helping to restore their financial health.

The company acquired the Ashford Junction-Rochester line in 1986 from railroading giant CSX Corp.

Southwest Forest Industries sold it to Stone Container Corporation in 1987.

Other geographic expansion occurred in 1993 when the company purchased the Willamette & Pacific Railroad from Southern Pacific Rail Corp.

Genesee & Wyoming Railroad itself was moving about two million tons of salt a year for Azko Nobel Salt Inc. when this Retlof, New York, mine met with disaster, collapsing and flooding in 1994.

Genesee & Wyoming Industries, Inc. was renamed Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in 1995.

In June 1996, the company went public, offering about 2.5 million shares at $17 apiece.