Genesee & Wyoming Jobs

Last revised: May 31, 2023

Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. has grown into the largest family of short line railroads across the United States and now also owns a number of such systems internationally as well.

The company has a long history in the industry dating back to the 19th century although it did not begin blossoming into the mammoth operation it is today until the 1980s.

The G&W today owns more than 100 railroads across five different countries with trackage totaling more than 15,000 miles.

If you are looking for a job/career with Genesee & Wyoming please visit their website for further information.

Finally, please let me stress that this website is neither a hiring service nor has positions for hire; the information provided here is to help job searchers in the process of finding employment.

The railroad industry has always offered excellent pay and benefits; among Class I's entry level positions as part of the train crew (conductor) typically start out in the $50,000's while an engineer can make considerably more.

After one has worked for several years it is not uncommon to earn at, or over, $100,000 annually. Senior-level and skill positions (such as trainmaster, roadmaster, and signal maintainer) also routinely make six-digits or close to that figure.

While short lines typically pay less than these figures, Genesee & Wyoming is a large conglomerate of small railroads and pays better than most.

By performing a quick Google search using the box below you can find available job openings either directly through Genesee & Wyoming or via major job search websites.

The early years of the Genesee & Wyoming; S4 #35 (built new for the railroad in 1959) and RS1 #25 (built new for the railroad in 1952) handle salt hoppers at Retsof, New York during June of 1974. Warren Calloway photo.

The history of G&W's current operations began humbly as a small short line by the same name, the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad.

This little system was based in Western New York, south of Rochester and began as the Genesee & Wyoming Valley Railway.

The G&WV was incorporated in 1891 and eventually opened from Retsof to a location known as P&L Junction near Caledonia in 1894, a distance of about 14 miles.

While only a small town, Caledonia was a mecca of railroads until the mid-20th century with several through routes, providing the G&WV with three different major interchange connections including:

Lehigh Valley

Erie Railroad

Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh (after 1932 the BR&P became a wholly owned subsidiary of trunk line Baltimore & Ohio)

In addition, the mighty New York Central also passed through town.

Career Information With Other Short Line Families

Gulf & Ohio Railways, Inc.

OmniTRAX, Inc.

Pinsly Railroad Company

Pioneer RailCorp

Rio Grande Pacific Corporation

RJ Corman Railroad Group

Watco Companies

With freight traffic never materializing as hoped the G&WV fell into bankruptcy in November of 1898 and was reorganized as the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad (reporting mark GNWR), incorporated on March 24, 1899.

The new G&W was owned by Edward Laton Fuller and began serving a massive salt mine near Retsof, owned by the International Salt Corporation.

The mine was, for many years, the largest producer of rock salt in the world and the G&W's largest customer. As it turns out salt remained the railroad's primary source of traffic throughout the 1970s and even today it continues to handle large quantities of the mineral.

Little changed for the G&W over the years until Mortimer B. Fuller III, great grandson of Edward, acquired control of the short line in 1977.

First Coast Railroad (a G&W property since 2005) GP10 #1810 (ex-Illinois Central GP9 #9352 built in 1958) and GP16 #1602 (built as Seaboard Air Line GP7 #1710 in 1950) switch customers at Fernandina Beach, Florida on March 30, 2014. Warren Calloway photo.

Following this changing of the guard the operation took a much different direction and exploded into the multi-billion dollar, multi-national conglomerate it is today.

Once Fuller III gained control he soon formed Genesee & Wyoming Industries, of which the railroad division became a subsidiary.

Then, the new company entered the rail car leasing and management business, initially focusing specifically on covered hoppers used in handling salt.

In 1980 the railroad industry was greatly deregulated, offering the large Class I's much more flexibility in shedding unprofitable or unwanted routes.

This allowed G&W to acquired the former B&O/BR&P's Rochester Branch in 1986, spun-off by Chessie System/CSX that year. Today, this particular segment is operated by subsidiary Rochester & Southern Railroad, which also owns the original Genesee & Wyoming.

Seen here is South Carolina Central Railroad GP38 #2032 at Floyd, South Carolina on April 1, 2014. The SCRF has been a G&W property since it acquired RailAmerica in 2012. Warren Calloway photo.

Over the next decade G&W continued acquiring small systems (some of which were not secondary branches of larger systems but historic short lines) including:

Dansville & Mount Morris Railroad (1985)

Rochester & Southern (1986)

Louisiana & Delta (1987)

Buffalo & Pittsburgh (1988)

Allegheny & Eastern

Bradford Industrial Rail (1992)

Willamette & Pacific (1993)

Portland & Western (1995)

Illinois & Midland/Pittsburg & Shawmut/Rail Link, Inc. (1996)

After 1997 the company's acquisitions went international taking over the Australia Southern Railroad along with the Huron Central Railway and Quebec Gatineau Railway in Canada.

Between 2001 and 2012 G&W's list of new subsidiaries was dizzying as nearly every year one or more subsidiaries joined its family of short lines.

Railroads Of The Genesee & Wyoming Family

Australia

Genesee & Wyoming Australia

United Kingdom/Britain/Europe

Freightliner

Rotterdam Rail Feeding

North America

Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway

Aliquippa & Ohio River Railroad

AN Railway

Arizona & California Railroad

Arizona Eastern Railway

Arkansas Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad

Arkansas Midland Railroad

Atlantic & Western Railway

Bauxite & Northern Railway

Bay Line Railroad

Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad

California Northern Railroad

Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway

Cascade & Columbia River Railroad

Carolina Piedmont Railroad

Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad

Central Railroad of Indiana

Central Railroad of Indianapolis

Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad

Chattooga & Chickamauga Railway

Chesapeake & Albemarle Railroad

Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern Railroad

Columbus & Chattahoochee Railroad

Columbus & Greenville Railway

Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road

Commonwealth Railway

Conecuh Valley Railroad

Connecticut Southern Railroad

Corpus Christi Terminal Railroad

Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad

East Tennessee Railway

Eastern Alabama Railway

First Coast Railroad

Fordyce & Princeton Railroad

Galveston Railroad

Georgia Central Railway

Georgia Southwestern Railroad

Goderich-Exeter Railway

Golden Isles Terminal Railroad

Golden Isles Terminal Wharf

Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad

Hilton & Albany Railroad

Huron & Eastern Railway

Huron Central Railway

Illinois & Midland Railroad

Indiana & Ohio Railway

Indiana Southern Railroad

Kentucky West Tennessee Railway

Kiamichi Railroad

Knob Lake & Timmins Railway

Kyle Railroad

Little Rock & Western Railway

Louisiana & Delta Railroad

Luxapalila Valley Railroad

Mahoning Valley Railway

Marquette Rail

Maryland Midland Railway

Massena Terminal Railroad

Meridian & Bigbee Railroad

Michigan Shore Railroad

Mid-Michigan Railroad

Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad

New England Central Railroad

North Carolina & Virginia Railroad

Ohio Central Railroad

Ohio Southern Railroad

Olympia & Belmore Railroad

Ottawa Valley Railway

Otter Tail Valley Railroad

Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad

Point Comfort & Northern Railway

Portland & Western Railroad

Prescott & Northwestern Railroad

Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad

Quebec Gatineau Railway

Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad

Riceboro Southern Railway

Rochester & Southern Railroad

Rockdale, Sandow & Southern Railroad

San Joaquin Valley Railroad

San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad

Savannah Port Terminal Railroad

outh Carolina Central Railroad

Southern Ontario Railway

St-Laurent & Atlantique Railroad

St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad

Talleyrand Terminal Railroad

Tazewell & Peoria Railroad

Texas Northeastern Railroad

Three Notch Railroad

Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway

Tomahawk Railway

Utah Railway

Valdosta Railway

Ventura County Railroad

Warren & Trumbull Railroad

Warren & Saline River Railroad

Wellsboro & Corning Railroad

Western Labrador Rail Services

Wilmington Terminal Railroad

Wiregrass Central Railroad

York Railway

Youngstown Belt Railroad

Youngstown & Austintown Railroad

On July 23, 2012, Genesee & Wyoming purchased RailAmerica Inc., then controlled by Fortress Investment Group LLC, for $1.39 billion. RA, founded in 1986 was once the largest such short line operation in the country.

Its subsidiaries ranged from the Arizona & California to the New England Central, totaling more than 40 railroads with over 8,000 miles of track in service.

The RA, itself, was a conglomerate of sorts growing partially through the acquisition of smaller short line holding companies which sprang up after the 1980 deregulation (such as RailTex and ParkSierra).

Today, Genesee & Wyoming shows no signs of slowing down. In early 2016 the company announced the launch of yet another new short line, the Olympia & Belmore Railroad serving eastern Washington.

Seen here is Willamette & Pacific GP9 #1802 (built as Rio Grande #5944 in 1956) at Albany, Georgia on August 27, 1994. The W&P was acquired in 1993 and this Geep has since been scrapped. Warren Calloway photo.

The G&W's American operations have become so large it somewhat functions like a large Class I albeit without through routes to major cities (however, it nearly has achieved through service from Buffalo to Cincinnati).

There are currently 10 different regions in North America including the Pacific, Mountain West, Central, Coast, Southern, Midwest, Ohio Valley, Coastal, Northeast, and Canada.

In addition, its Europe Region provides service via three different lines (each in separate countries) and Australia includes "Genesee & Wyoming Australia" and "Freightliner Australia."

Because of the company's far reaching scope, size, and international presence, today it offers a wide range of jobs and careers to choose from. If you are interested in working for the company please visit their website to learn more.

Electro-Motive Database

In 1998 a gentleman by the name of Andre Kristopans put together a web page highlighting virtually every unit out-shopped by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division.

Alas, in 2013 the site closed. However, Don Strack rescued the data and transferred it over to his UtahRails.net site (another fine resource).

If you are researching anything EMD related please visit this page first. The information includes original numbers, serials, and order numbers.

Researching Rights-Of-Way

A popular pastime for many is studying and/or exploring abandoned rights-of-way.

Today, there are tens of thousands of miles scattered throughout the country. Many were pulled up in the 1970's and 1980's although others were removed long before that.

If you are researching active or abandoned corridors you might want to check out the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Historical Topographic Map Explorer.

It is an excellent resource with thousands of historic maps on file throughout the country. Just type in a town or city and click on the timeline of maps at the bottom of the page!