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 Texas : Features : Texas Railroads
locomotive

TEXAS RAILROADS

Texas Railroads were unquestionably the biggest economic force in Texas after the Civil War and before the discovery of oil. Towns were born, nurtured or killed at the whim of railroad planners.

In this feature we examine the locomotives and perhaps some of the loco motives behind the planning. After the early immigrations, prior to the Civil War, railroads opened up the rest of the state to new groups or to people transmigrating from other parts of the U.S.

Here are railroad stations, steam engines, cabooses and rolling stock. Here are short line railroads, railroad bridges and even a few train wrecks. It's a collection of railroad relics, railroad stories and railroad towns discovered during our statewide research. It's brightly painted heavy metal with a light coat of oil.
NEW
  • The Longest Train Ride by C. F. Eckhardt 9-20-08
    "Train #1 of the Gulf & Interstate Railroad, which left Beaumont, Texas, at 7:00 AM on September 8, 1900, to make the run to Port Bolivar, about 85 miles away by modern highway, arrived at Port Bolivar at 11:10 AM, September 24, 1903—three years, sixteen days, and ten minutes late. Some of the original passengers were still aboard..."
  • Railroad Graffiti
    The World's Heaviest Art Gallery
  • TEXAS RAILROADS

    Train Depots
    Surviving & Demolished Railroad Stations of Texas
    Texas Bridges (including railroad bridges)

    The Railroads

    The Fredericksburg & Northern Railroad
  • The Little Engine That Couldn't by C. F. Eckhardt 11-12-07
    "... Even after the War, with much improved roads and a much lessened Indian problem, it still took freight wagons the better part of a week to travel from San Antonio to Fredericksburg... The people north and west of San Antonio wanted and needed a railroad..."

    Tunnel and marker photos courtesy Sarah Reveley and Terry Jeanson
  • Texas State Railroad

  • The Texas State Railroad and the Texas Forest Trail
    by John Troesser, Illustrated with 10 photos
  • The Texas State Railroad by Archie P. McDonald
  • Texas Short Line Railroads & Interurbans
  • The Angelina and Neches River Railroad, An East Texas Short Line Railroad by Norman Conquest, Illustrated with 4 photos
  • The Asherton and Gulf Railway
  • Bartlett Western Railroad by Clay Coppedge
  • Burleson Interurban Depot
  • Plano Texas Electric Railway Station 12-22-07
    Photos courtesy Mike Price
  • Santa Fe Railroad
  • “Brenham to Sweetwater and the Big Town of Blair”
    A Railroad Memoir by Johnnie Stokes, Morse Telegraph Operator, Colorado, Gulf and Santa Fe railroad
  • “When Robert Lee Gets a New Railroad" Ruth Elliott Sellers
  • Texas & Pacific Railroad Depots
  • Texas & Pacific Railroad Depot, Marshall, Texas, c. 1912
    by Norman Conquest, Illustrated with 2 photos
  • Surviving Railroad Stations of Texas - Images
  • Railroad Interlocking Towers of Texas
    by Jim King

    History and photos of the railroad tower.
    Most people referred to these as "signal towers" or "switch towers"
    Railroad Stories
    Crash at Crush
  • The Crash at Crush by Luke Warm
    One of the most bizarre publicity stunts of all time. Illustrated with 6 photos
  • The Crash at Crush by Bob Bowman ("All Things Historical" Column)
  • The Crash At Crush - Song Lyric by Brian Burns - Brian Burns Music (BMI)
  • Tracks by Billy B. Smith
    "I have always loved railroads, both the trains and tracks... One railroad line in particular has been for me an umbilical cord that has connected me to my roots and my life. I have lived close to this line for most of my life. It always reminds me of where I've been and where I could have gone."
  • Locomotive Boiler Explosion 6-1-07
    Smithville Blast of 1911 Kills 9, Injures 12
  • Life on a West Texas Paint Train in the 1940s 7-6-07
    Big Bend Memories. Vintage Photos.
  • The Longest Train Ride by C. F. Eckhardt 9-20-08
    "Train #1 of the Gulf & Interstate Railroad, which left Beaumont, Texas, at 7:00 AM on September 8, 1900, to make the run to Port Bolivar, about 85 miles away by modern highway, arrived at Port Bolivar at 11:10 AM, September 24, 1903—three years, sixteen days, and ten minutes late. Some of the original passengers were still aboard..."
  • Orphans find homes in West by Delbert Trew 1-8-08
    The Orphan Trains.
  • Train travelers owe much to service pioneer by Delbert Trew
    Every traveler today, no matter what mode of travel he prefers, owes a salute to the organizational genius of Fred Harvey. This slender wisp of a man was all gentleman and laid the groundwork and quality goals for travel hospitality, making such trips comfortable, reliable and enjoyable.

  • Built it and they will ride it by Archie P. McDonald
    Most motorists traveling down Bremond Street in Houston, Lufkin, and Nacogdoches, or likely any street along US Highway 59 from Houston to north of Nacogdoches, haven't a clue of the debt East Texas owes to Paul Bremond...
  • The Conroe, Byspot and Northern: A Tram Railroad That Time Forgot by W. T. Block, Jr.
    The Conroe, Byspot and Northern was never a chartered short-line railroad, but it nevertheless carried on many of the activities typical of a chartered railroad...
  • Amarillo Symphony by Mike Cox
    "For all Amarilloans, those whistles — long since replaced by more prosaic air horns — represent the sound of a city’s history."
  • Bet-A-Million Gates by Archie P. McDonald
    John Warne Gates, a native of Winfield, Illinois, became associated with three of Texas’ most important items: barbed wire, railroads, and oil.
  • "Struck on the head by a Locomotive" Early Waco Obituaries 1874-1908.
    Judging by these entries, the good old days didn't quite live up to the reputation.
  • Railroads by Archie P. McDonald
    Trains are still crucial for moving freight, despite competition from trucks. Airplanes and cars move people. Some folks are fond of these. Johnny Cash and I have a thing about trains.
  • Hell Either Way Taken by Archie P. McDonald
  • Denison, Birth Place of a President by Archie P. McDonald
  • Revisiting The Rabbit by Bob Bowman
  • A Railroad Centennial by Bob Bowman
  • The Iron Road Sorority: Penelope, May, Pearl, and Venus by John Troesser
  • Lost Buildings of the "Macaroni" Railroad in Inez, Texas
    Photos and text by Sara Duncan
  • Texas Train Robberies

  • Bud Newman Gang by Mike Cox 5-26-08
    A little more than a year after the Comstock shooting, newspapers readers learned that west-bound SP passenger train No. 20 had been robbed around midnight on Dec. 20, 1896 near Cow Creek less than a mile west of Comstock....
  • Bud Newman, part II by Mike Cox 5-29-08
    About 11 p.m. on June 9, 1898 at a point called Coleman Switch about four miles west of Santa Anna, Newman and three other masked men descended on a Santa Fe passenger train...
  • A Railroad Holdup by Bob Bowman
    Railroaders love to tell stories, and the one they relish the most is about the railroad president and the holdup man.
  • The Tall Texan : The Story of Ben Kilpatrick by Arthur Soule
  • The Last Full-sized Train Robbery in Texas by Brewster Hudspeth
  • Texas Train Travel
  • Cultural Shock Then. Cultural Shock Now by N. Ray Maxie 4-1-08
    At the Atlanta, Texas, railroad depot, then known as the local Texas and Pacific train station, we waited. I was just six and a half years old. This was the beginning of an exciting adventure; my very first train trip...
  • The Texas State Railroad and the Texas Forest Trail
  • Miscellaneous Images
  • Railroad Graffiti
    The World's Heaviest Art Gallery
  • San Antonio - Southern Pacific Depot - Gargoyle
  • Collegeport - Locomotive
  • Baird - Locomotive Mural
  • Flatonia - Switching Tower
  • Glidden - Locomotive
  • Glidden - Roundhouse
  • Grey Forest - Caboose 3-12-08
  • Leon Springs - Dismantled railroad tracks 12-2-08
  • Manor - Locomotive
  • Palacios - Caboose
  • Pottsboro - Railroad underpass 8-20-08
  • Talpa- Deisel Locomotive
  • Texas & Pacific locomotive #638
  • Tyler - Roundhouse and Turntable
  • Victoria - Locomotive
  • Wharton - Locomotive

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    This page last modified: December 2, 2008