Granite Mountain Quarries Railroad

The Granite Mountain Quarries Railroad (reporting mark GMQX)[1][2] is a private rail service of Granite Mountain Quarries in Arkansas operated by McGeorge Construction.[3] Using a fleet of four locomotives and 110 rail cars, the operation assembles unit trains of the crushed rock produced from quarrying, and passes the cars off to the Union Pacific (UP) for long-distance distribution.[4][5] The quarry operation gained direct access to the UP in 1969, and bought its own railcars in 2010.[4]

GMQX locomotives are yellow/gold in color, with a green top or stripe.[6][7][8]

In 1990, a Granite Mountain Quarries train hit and overturned a truck moving across its track.[9] The train was pulling 2,600 tons of rock at the time.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Comprehensive Reporting Mark List for RailcarPhotos". RailcarPhotos.com. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  2. ^ "Railroad Reporting Marks – G". Piedmont and Western Railroad Club. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  3. ^ "Crushed Stone Mining". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Our History". Granite Mountain Quarries. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  5. ^ "A GMQX EMD SW9". RailPictures.net. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  6. ^ "Happy St. Patrick's Day!". Granite Mountain Quarries, March 17, 2023 (accessed on Facebook). Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  7. ^ "Granite Mountain Quarries SW9 4744". Railpictures.net. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  8. ^ "Original '76 Kodachrome Slide GMQ Granite Mountain Quarries 4743 Little 22A23". eBay.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Granite Mountain Quarries Train hits Truck" (PDF). Arkansas Railroader, October 1990, p.14. Retrieved August 21, 2023.