New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway Company

The New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway Company operates 32 miles of industrial shortline trackage spread out along the west bank of the Mississippi River, south of New Orleans, Louisiana. The first line begins at an interchange with the Union Pacific at its small Westwego yard, east of the UP's large Avondale classification yard. From the interchange, the line travels east (downriver) through the West Bank communities of Marrero, Harvey, and Gretna to Algiers. Between Gretna and Algiers, a second line branches southeast at Gouldsboro Yard, crossing the Intracoastal Canal then rejoining the west bank of the Mississippi at Belle Chasse. From there this line follows the west bank in Plaquemines Parish through the river communities of Oak Point and Alliance to Myrtle Grove -- 24 miles in total. Railroad offices are in Belle Chasse, but locomotives are often kept near the Harvey Canal at a small yard office. Commodities carried for over 20 customers include food products, oils, grains, petroleum products, chemicals, and steel products. The New Orleans & Gulf Coast is one of four shortlines controlled by the Rio Grande Pacific Corporation.

The Westwego-Algiers line was received from Union Pacific, but is actually an amalgamation of portions of two parallel lines constructed by Union Pacific predecessors and rivals. The line closer to the river was a Texas & Pacific route, built along the river to service the industry-rich areas between Waggaman and Algiers. The T&P was absorbed by the Missouri Pacific in 1976, which in turn was absorbed by the Union Pacific beginning in 1980, completed in 1997. Running parallel to the T&P between the same communities was another route originally built by Morgan's Louisiana & Texas Railroad, which would later become the Texas & New Orleans Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific system. When the SP was merged into the Union Pacific, this line, too, came under the control of the UP.

The Gouldsboro-Myrtle Grove line was purchased from previous shortline New Orleans Lower Coast Railroad, which was a RailTex subsidiary. The NOLR purchased the 24 mile segment from the Union Pacific in 1991. The route had been a Missouri Pacific branchline before the UP merger, but was built in 1891 by the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grande Isle Railroad. In 1911, this company was combined with the New Orleans Southern Railway to form the New Orleans, Southern & Grand Isle Railway, which by 1916 was sold to form the New Orleans & Lower Coast Railroad. By 1926 this last independent operation was under the control of the Missouri Pacific and later absorbed.