Texas Railroading and Railfanning In "The Lone Star State"

Like everything else about the Lone Star State, Texas railroading is big. In terms of route mileage nothing can top Texas and the state has key main lines running every which direction (UP’s Sunset Route running between Los Angeles and New Orleans and BNSF’s Transcon running between Chicago and Los Angeles are just a few). Historically, virtually every well-known Southwestern railroad reached Texas, including some Midwestern carriers like the Rock Island. Today, while the Lone Star State has lost over 35% of its peak trackage it still includes over 10,000 miles of rails and continues to be an important generator of traffic (such as chemicals found predominantly in Houston and East Texas).

Texas railroading has its beginnings dating back to 1853 when the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railway extended 20 miles from Harrisburg, near Houston (the railroad would become part of the Southern Pacific system, today a part of Union Pacific). Due to Texas’ strategic location, large size and sources of traffic it, of course, did not take long for railroads to begin tapping and building aggressively into the state. In the years following the arrival of the state’s first railroad several other, and more celebrated, lines built into Texas which include the Rock Island, Southern Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Kansas City Southern, the Burlington Route, the Frisco and the Katy.

Of these railroads, the SP and MP controlled the majority of the route miles in Texas connecting to virtually every major city in the state with a significant presence in lucrative East Texas where the chemical industry sprang up.

Both railroads served all of the state’s key markets and both of whom also operated key main lines to reach such cities as Houston, San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth (Southern Pacific’s Sunset Route and Missouri Pacific’s Texas & Pacific main line). Both railroads were fierce competitors in the Southwest, particularly in Texas, dating all of the way back to the late 19th century when Jay Gould controlled the MP and Collis Huntington the SP.

Being such a large railroad, the history of the Southern Pacific is quite long and complicated. However, the Espee’s beginnings can be traced all of the way back to the State of California’s beginnings, in 1850. Around that time, railroad moguls Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, and Leland Stanford set about to finance the famous Central Pacific to complete the first transcontinental railroad, which was accomplished when the CP connected with the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah in May, 1869.

By the 20th century the railroad continued to expand and was by this time well entrenched into the Southeastern markets of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (it also leased the CP in the 1920s, eventually merging the railroad into its system with its main line becoming the Overland Route). By mid-century it owned a stunning 15,000 miles of track, stretching from the warm and sunny beaches of Southern California and Gulf of Mexico to the deserts of Arizona and mountains of the Sierra Range.

For all of the railroad’s wealth and prosperity, traffic pattern shifts and poor management would prove costly to the Southern Pacific beginning in the 1970s. After a failed merger with the Santa Fe it was purchased by the Denver & Rio Grande Western in 1988 (who assumed its name) and was eventually merged into the Union Pacific flag in 1996.

The Missouri Pacific, better known by railroaders and railfans as the “MoPac,” was never a strong company financially but it was always a fighter. The railroad was the first to be built west of the Mississippi River and would eventually come under the Jay Gould empire, who owned scores of railroads in the 19th century. The railroad is also well remembered for its beautiful paint scheme of blue and gray with an eagle adorning the flanks of locomotives.

The Missouri Pacific, like many now-fallen flags, was actually a hodgepodge of over smaller railroads put together throughout the years, even after the Missouri Pacific name was born. By also owning the Texas & Pacific the Missouri Pacific reached nearly all of Texas’s major cities and by the early 20th century it had stretched across 11 Midwestern and Western states from New Orleans and Memphis to Denver, Colorado and El Paso, Texas. For all of the railroad’s mileage and size this did not necessarily turn into substantial profits and earnings. Between its earliest beginnings and the mid-1950s the railroad witnessed over a half-dozen bankruptcies and reorganizations (the final one being in 1956).

Due to the railroad’s financial situation it is not surprising that it would be purchased by another railroad, which happened in 1982 when the Union Pacific merged the railroad into its system. Interestingly when the UP purchased the MoPac the latter was much larger in both terms of route miles and locomotives. Similarly, for years the Missouri Pacific name continued to flank locomotives albeit in the Armour Yellow and Gray of Union Pacific, and the MoPac’s corporate identity was not officially dissolved until as late as 1997.

Today, Texas railroading is mostly the domain of Union Pacific which controls roughly 51% of the trackage in the state, which is interesting considering that the UP never had a presence at all in the Lone Star State until it purchased the MoPac and later, SP. Another 38% is the domain of BNSF leaving a mere 11% in control of shortlines. And, as you can probably guess, Texas railroading features several shortlines. Some of these include the Angelina & Neches River Railroad; Austin Western Railroad; Blacklands Railroad; Border Pacific Railroad; Corpus Christi Terminal; Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad; Fort Worth & Western Railroad; Galveston Railroad; GWI Switching Services; Panhandle Northern Railway; Point Comfort & Northern Railway; Rockdale, Sandow & Southern Railroad; Texas Central Business Lines; Timber Rock Railroad; and the Wichita, Tillman & Jackson Railway.

In total, these railroads still operate over 10,000 miles of trackage in the Lone Star State although at one time it used to be home to over 16,000 miles of rails. For more information on Texas railroading, in terms of route mileage over the years please take a look at the chart below.

Under Amtrak, Texas has retained a number of the famous passenger trains that existed prior to the carrier. For instance Southern Pacific’s Sunset Limited still runs between New Orleans and Los Angeles and Missouri Pacific’s Texas Eagle still makes several stops in the state including San Antonio, Dalla, and Austin (at San Antonio you can jump on board the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles or New Orleans and vice-versa).

Lastly, if you are an avid railroad historian or enjoy excursion trains, then you’ll love what Texas has to offer! For instance, there is the Austin Steam Train Association which operates excursion trains behind historic Alco diesels (complete in Southern Pacific “Black Widow” livery) and an ex-Southern Pacific Mikado (2-8-2) steam locomotive. And then there is the Galveston Railroad Museum, one of the finest in the state that features plenty of historic equipment and interactive exhibits.

In all, Texas railroading is as grand as the Lone Star State itself and truly is Like A Whole Other Country. With over 10,000 miles of rails, whether you are interested in high speed, main line freight operations, local shortlines or just a good museum you should have no problem finding it in Texas.