Alton & Southern (AS)

The Alton & Southern was a switching railroad in the St. Louis MO and E. ST. Louis IL area. It was owned by several railroads, one of which was the MP which is reflected in the locomotive shown below.

Received this information from Jacques Elanger -- Mo Pac and CN&W bought the road 9 May 68 and began painting the engines with yellow hoods( for CN&W ) and blue on cabs and frames( for Mo Pac ) with a hybrid herald as well.

Locomotives

This railroad operated 21 diesels in 1976.

Freight Equipment

Route and Interchanges

Operated 121 miles of railroad in the St. Louis/E. St. Louis area.

Other Photos

HISTORY

A & S was 50-50 owned by Missouri Pacific and Chicago & Northwestern after its sale by Alcoa. That accounts for both the paint scheme colors, MoPac Blue and C&NW yellow and the Buzz Saw emblem in the C&NW style herald.

kameron miller

The Alton & Southern (ALS) was owned by Alcoa Alum which owned a large smelting/refining plant just north of the Southern Rwy Copeman yard in E. St. Louis. It was sold to a partnership of the MOP & CNW in the later 60's or early70,s when the Alum plant was closed and the paint scheme was changed from the yellow & green (see page 62 of THE AMERICAN RAILROAD by Joe Welsh, 1999 by MBI publishing, for a great shot of the Alco RS-2's by Jim Boyd in the old green & yellow scheme) to the cnw yellow and mop blue scheme with the CNW herald with the mop buzz saw circle for the ASL herald. I worked in E.St.Louis in the late 60's and the GM&O (my employer) had an alumnia ore unit train operation from Mobile, Ala to Mennessa, NY (Spelling may be wrong) on the PC. Because it had to be interchanged to the PC at the E.St.Louis gateway and the ALS was owned still by Alcoa, the GM&O had to take the train up to Lenox Tower at Mitchell and back in into the ALS yard there so the ALS could interchange it to the PC at Lenox and thus partake in part of the line haul diversion of the through freight rate. The GM&O could have given it direct to the PC at E.St.Louis at Bridge Jct, or at Lenox but Alcoa was the shipper and specified the routing as a shippers route with the ALS included in the line haul.

Robert F. Schramm

After sharing joint ownership with Missouri Pacific for years, the Chicago & Northwestern lost interest in Alton & Southern after the Missouri Pacific was acquired by Union Pacifc. When C&NW announced their share of Alton & Southern was for sale, S. Louis Southwestern (a/k/a Cotton Belt) bought the Chicago & Northwestern's 50% ownership share. Of course, when UP swallowed up the SP and the SSW in 1996, it got 100% ownership of Alton & Southern.

Due to the cramped accomodations in Cotton Belt's own Valley Junction Yard (at East St. Louis), the Cotton Belt actually began originating some of its own trains (such as the famous Blue Streak Merchandise) at Alton & Southern's Gateway Yard. I understand Gateway was a larger yard, but located adjacent to SSW's Valley Junction facility.

Glen Williams

Last Updated - 06 May 2008