The Final Mile. A North Mississippi Rail Services 45-tonner has likely ran its last mile as its parts seem to be getting stripped here at the Port of Itawamba in Fulton, Mississippi. Like this locomotive, the Port of Itawamba has become a shell of its former self. Pulp traffic has dried up and the steel facility is no longer accepting steel (leaving no customers in the port). The Mississippian Railway runs from BNSF at Amory, MS to here in Fulton. There are two lumber mills they serve on the south side of town (to my knowledge the only 2 active customers on the line.) North MS Rail does the switching here in the port. The other critter (if I recall correctly it was a 20-ton) they had around already seems to have been shipped off somewhere, but this one seems to have been left - perhaps one of these days the port will rebound and she will be needed and fixed up. Reports indicate this is formerly USAX 503 and later Kosciusko & Southwestern 503 built in 10/1942. These 45-tons were typically built with 2 Cummins HBI-600's - I suppose missing one this locomotive falls a little short of being a true 45-ton.
