Wilkes EDC President LeeAnn Nixon and Vice President Robin Hamby joined Ronnie McKenzie, Chief Marketing Officer for Gulf & Ohio Railways; Jason France, Chief Operating Officer at Gulf & Ohio Railways; and Maury Coulthard, General Manager of Yadkin Valley Railroad and Coordinator of Maintenance of Way for a guided tour of the rail line. The group began at the train trestle on Front Street in Elkin and traveled into Wilkes in the along the tracks in a hy-rail truck with their hosts into the Roaring River area.
The experience offered the EDC team a fresh perspective on rail-related opportunities and provided valuable insights along the line. In addition to serving Tyson Feed Mill, Plycem/Allura, and LP (Louisiana Pacific), the maintained rail extends roughly a mile and a half beyond LP near Rock Quarry Road.
To provide context for the tour, the Yadkin Valley Railroad (YVRR) operates 100 miles of track across Wilkes, Surry, Stokes, and Forsyth counties. YVRR is served by Norfolk Southern, one of the major Class I railroads in the eastern United States, giving local industries access to the national rail network. Each year, the YVRR moves approximately 8,200 carloads of freight, hauling commodities such as agricultural products, wood products, steel, plastics, cement, and LP gas.
YVRR is managed by Gulf & Ohio Railways, a company established in 1985 that now operates over 200 miles of track, runs around forty locomotives, and serves more than ninety industrial customers across the Southeast.
The EDC team is grateful for the experience and looks forward to building on its relationship with Gulf & Ohio Railways.