Bridgewater Red Mesa Railroad

The Bridgewater Red Mesa Railroad, (reporting marks BIRM) is a regional railroad that runs in southeastern New Territories, running between the cities of Bridgewater, Red Mesa, and Quincy. The railroad is owned by the New Territories Government, and operated by Navyco. The railroad runs approximately 50 miles of track and hauls primarily iron ore, sand, grain, and coal all across New Territories.. The railroad also interchanges with the Pine Island and Bridgewater Railway (PIBR), and Ashwood Southeastern Railroad (ASER) at Bridgewater and Quincy.

History

Red Mesa Northern Railway (1896-1905)

In 1896, US colonizers came to the Tsé Łichííʼ region of New Territories. After discovering an abundance of Iron and coal, settlers were quick to establish the colony of Red Mesa. A man named Henry B. Sargent had a vision and big business plan, a railroad connecting this mineral haven to the rest of New Territories. He chartered the Red Mesa Northern Railroad (RMN) in 1900, and soon started building northwest across the Tsé Łichííʼ and Tsintah regions of New Territories toward the newly established Colony of Ashwood, passing by the communities of Frick, Lichii, now known as Sargent, and Chil, located roughly where modern day Rutland and Apache stand. Sargent and his crew made it as far as a location called Reno, about 2 miles northeast of Bridgewater, when war broke out between the American colonizers and Apache tribe in 1902, resulting in the "Great Mesa Massacre", where American colonizers burnt down the entire settlement of Chil, killing hundreds. In response, the Apache tribe burnt down mines, railroad tracks, and bridges, leaving Sargent's railroad in ruins. The whole war halted the construction of the Red Mesa Northern passed Reno, and with a lack of men and materials, Sargent filed for bankruptcy on April 14th,1904, and sold his railroad to the New Territories Government, passing away just a year later on May 8th 1905.

Red Mesa & Sargent River Railroad. (1905-1943)

Red Mesa and the surrounding communities began to slowly regrow after the war, but still needed a rail link to the rest of the Territories. The Pine Island and Bridgewater Railway (PI&B) reached Bridgewater in 1910 and saw huge business opportunities with the former Red Mesa Northern. The PI&B built an extension of their Bridgewater line to Reno and connected with the Red Mesa Northern. At that same time, the New Territories government chartered the Red Mesa and Sargent River Railroad. The town of Lichii was renamed to the town of Sargent in honor of Henry B. Sargent. And named the parellel river to the Red Mesa Northern the Sargent River. The RMSR rebuilt and converted the track to standard gauge. The new line opened in 1914. The RMSR gained trackage rights on the new PI&B trackage to Bridgewater, where it would interchange and connect with the rest of the rapidly developing New Territories rail network. The RMSR would haul Iron ore, coal, mesa sand, oil, lumber and other various commodities across their network.

Bridgewater & Red Mesa Railway (1943-1979)

The Red Mesa & Sargent River ran until 1943, when republican New Territories Chancellor, Carl Grafton sold the RMSR to the Broken Back Iron Ore and Co. As an effort to cut local taxes that initially funded the Railroad. The Broken Back Iron Ore and Co. rebranded the RMSR to the Bridgewater and Red Mesa railroad (reporting marks B&RM / BRM). The B&RM ran until 1966, when New Territories declared independence from the United States. The New Territories economy relied heavily on rail transportation, as its interstate and trucking network had yet to be fully developed or funded. Mining in Red Mesa especially was a critical part in the New Territories economy, so as an effort to regulate the railroad, the New Territories Government wanted to purchase the B&RM railroad, leading to decade-long court battle, with New Territories ultimately winning, after the Broken Back Iron Ore and Co. Filed for bankruptcy in 1978 and stopped operations the following year in 1979.

Navyco Take Over (1979-1997)

After the Bridgewater and Red Mesa Railway ceased operations, the New Territories Government took over their operations for 4 years, until the railroad was finally leased to Navyco, a military and transportation logistics corporation, in 1984. Navyco rebranded the railroad to the Bridgewater, Red Mesa Railroad, and all new equipment acquired a brand new reporting mark, BIRM. The new BIRM railroad faced several challenges, including reconstruction of a lot of the old right of way, a new radio system, new locomotives and rolling stock, and a boom in Iron Ore demand. The BIRM and Quincy Southern Railroad (QSR) collaborated on a project to increase capacity in the Red Mesa yards for the iron ore trains. BIRM would reconstruct the Broken Back Mine lead to have smoother gradients, and a new siding, while cutting their main yard in half in favor of a brand new Rex Yard to accommodate ore trains, which would be built along the QSR main. QSR would decommission their main track between Red Mesa and Camper, and QSR trains would reroute on the BIRM and take the newly constructed Henry Cutoff between Sargent and Camper. A brand new centralized traffic control system would also be implemented, the first ever signal system on the Red Mesa Northern Trackage. The project was complete by 1989.

QSR Acquisition (1997 - Today)

By the mid 1990s, the Quincy Southern Railroad was struggling financially after investing too much into their system and advertisement program. Navyco was interested in acquiring the railroad to expand their operations far beyond what they initially expected. After a long court battle with the New Territories government, Pine Island & Bridgewater, and Ashwood & Southeastern railroads, Navyco successfully took over the QSR Railroad in 1997, and merged it with the BIRM Railroad, as an effort to streamline operations. The new BIRM-QSR merger would keep the Bridgewater and Red Mesa Railroad name, as a hole in the New Territories trademark laws wouldn't allow Navyco to keep the Quincy Southern Brand. This new railroad was immediately successful, resulting in a streamlined connection all across Lichii Riding, and easier access to the cities of Ashwood, Newark, Quincy, Garrison, and beyond.

BIRM Today

BIRM still is a mildly successful player in the New Territories rail industry. Running several iron ore, grain, and coal trains every day.

BIRM Rail Lines Today
Line Name	Beginning and End Terminus	Original Owner	Nickname	Total Rail Miles
Empire Subdivision	Arroya - Empire Mine	QSR	Empire Branch	N/A
Quincy Subdivision	Quincy - Sargent	QSR	QSR Mainline	29.2
Red Mesa Terminal Subdivision	Red Mesa - Holcomb	QSR	Terminal/Holcomb Branch	3.6
Sargent Subdivision	Bridgewater - Broken Back Mine	RMN	Red Mesa Northern Main	13.5
Unamine Subdivision	Camper - Red Mesa Unamine	QSR	QSR Old Mainline	N/A