The Sand Springs Railway is a class III railroad

Class III railroad

A Class III railroad, as defined by the Surface Transportation Board, is a railroad with an annual operating revenue of less than $20 million . The term only applies to United States railroads, but is sometimes applied to other countries...

 operating in Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

.

It provides freight rail service between Sand Springs

Sand Springs, Oklahoma

Sand Springs is a city in Osage and Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A suburb of Tulsa, it is located predominantly in Tulsa County. The population was 18,906 in the 2010 U. S. Census, compared to 17,451 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1911, by Oklahoma philanthropist...

 and Tulsa

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...

 over a 32 mile route. The company primarily hauls steel, pulp, scrap iron, scrap paper, petroleum products, plastic, and lumber. It interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

, BNSF Railway

BNSF Railway

The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...

 and the South Kansas Oklahoma Railroad.

History

The Sand Springs Railway was founded by Charles Page and incorporated on February 6, 1911. It began service between Tulsa and Sand Springs on 8.6 miles of track that May. Passenger service was initially provided by two gasoline-engine rail cars, which were soon replaced by electric trolleys.

The railroad was powered by electricity until 1955, when it discontinued passenger service and changed over to diesel locomotives as a freight line. At that time, it was the last interurban operating in Oklahoma. The railroad was acquired by HMK Incorporated in 1987. In 1993, it was bought by Sheffield Steel, which declared bankruptcy and was bought out by Gerdau Ameristeel in 2006.