The lines were part of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad until March 1982, when Costain Coal, Inc. bought the trackage and set up the Tradewater Railway (reporting mark TWRY) to operate it.
In January 1995, the Rail Management and Consulting Corporation acquired the property and transferred it to the new Western Kentucky Railway.
In 2010, WKRL abandoned all of its remaining lines north of Providence, and the rails were removed shortly after.
When created in 1995, the Western Kentucky Railway owned lines from Providence to a junction at Blackford, and from Blackford north to Waverly and south to the Paducah and Louisville Railway at Princeton.
[5])The rest of the line was then abandoned in 2010 and removed from Providence to Wheatcroft and the surrounding mines.