Texas and Pacific Railway: Map, History, Timetables

Last revised: January 7, 2025

Of all the Missouri Pacific's many subsidiaries, none were quite as important to its modern network as the Texas and Pacific Railway (T&P). It was initially established by Congress to construct a southern transcontinental corridor.

The road was originally chartered under a different name in 1871 and then became the T&P the following year. Before the decade had ended it was under Jay Gould's control and joined his growing Missouri Pacific empire.

At its peak, the T&P operated nearly 2,000 route miles linking New Orleans with El Paso, Texas via Dallas/Fort Worth. The system comprised most of the modern MP's network in the Gulf Coast region and Texas.

In addition, it competed with the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe but also interchanged with the former at El Paso to move transcontinental traffic.

From a historical perspective, the Texas & Pacific is an important footnote in American railroading as one of the few federally chartered systems to actually be built, and at least partially completed. Today, the railroad's former main line is still active under Union Pacific.

Photos

Texas & Pacific F7A #1570 and GP7s in a scene that probably dates to either the 1950s or early 1960s in Fort Worth. Nathan Edmonson photo/John Edmonson collection.

History

The Texas & Pacific's origins begin on March 3, 1871 when Congress awarded the then-Texas Pacific Railroad a rare federal charter to establish a southern transcontinental route along the 32nd parallel from Marshall, Texas to San Diego, California.

At this time, the federal government was attempting to open other areas of the west to development; the original Transcontinental Railroad had been completed in 1869 and the hope was to establish northern and southern routes as well.

To do so, the government lured potential projects with land grants, essentially free property which could be used to establish rights-of-way and as monetary capital.

The government awarded twenty sections per mile through California and forty sections within the present-day states of Arizona and New Mexico.

In addition, Texas awarded twenty sections per mile within its borders. On May 2, 1872 the company's name was changed to the Texas & Pacific Railway and just a year later, the first segment between Marshall and Texarkana was completed (December 28, 1873).

System Map (1940)

A route map of the Texas and Pacific Railway as the road appeared in 1940. American-Rails.com collection.

While the T&P struggled to secure the necessary funding early on, it was lead by several eastern capitalists who had the connections to keep the project on track.

These individuals included former Texas Governor James Throckmorton, Moses Taylor, Samuel Tilden, E.W. Rice, and Thomas A. Scott.

Scott would subsequently recruit noted engineer Greenville Dodge, who had stepped in to help complete the Union Pacific leg of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Dodge brought strong military leadership, just as he had done at Union Pacific, and quickly completed the initial segment. At Longview, the T&P opened a connection with the International-Great Northern which provided through service to points throughout southern Texas, including Houston and San Antonio/Laredo.

In addition, at Texarkana interchange was established with St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway (StLIM&S), which offered through service into St. Louis.

At A Glance

Headquarters	Texas & Pacific Building (Dallas, Texas)
States Served	Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana
Genesis	Texas Pacific Railroad
Dates Of Operation	December 28, 1873 - October 15, 1976
Founder	U.S. Congress
Charter Date	March 3, 1871
Route Mileage (1930)	2,014.95
Most Notable President	Jay Gould
Principal Divisions	Eastern Division (Via Marshall) Transcontinental Division (Via Sherman) Louisiana Division Rio Grande Division Avoyelles Division Texarkana District (T.C. Division)
Other Lines	Port Allen Branch La Fourche Branch Eunice Branch Melville Branch Napoleonville Branch Marksville Branch Ferriday Branch Opelousas Branch
Reporting Mark	TP
Successor	Missouri Pacific

The three roads worked together closely and comprised virtually all of the later Missouri Pacific's lines south of St. Louis.

As the roads began to flourish, Jay Gould became involved during the fall of 1879 and gained lease of the Texas & Pacific, through the Missouri Pacific, in 1881. The International-Great Northern had been added to his empire in December, 1880 while the StLIM&S was acquired in December, 1883.

Under his direction the T&P continued its westward march, reaching Sierra Blanca in West Texas on December 16, 1881 with a goal of connecting to the Southern Pacific at El Paso. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

The SP, led by Collis P. Huntington, had arrived there a few months earlier on May 19th, then continued building east, reaching Sierra Blanca on November 25th.

Timetables (1940)

By extending much further than what had been stipulated, Gould took Huntington to court. The fight was finally resolved when the "Gould-Huntington Agreement" was signed on November 26, 1881.

This accord gave the T&P trackage rights over the Southern Pacific into El Paso but also forfeited its charter and franchises west of that point which were awarded to SP. Following the settlement, construction continued eastward with the railroad arriving in New Orleans on September 12, 1882.

In the succeeding years the T&P continued expanding, most notably to Denison (opening an interchange there with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas) and a secondary line into Texarkana that passed through Paris. At its peak the T&P owned 1,982-miles, including 1,109 miles in Texas.

As-mentioned, the T&P held a principal connection with the International & Great Northern at Longview and the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway at Texarkana. For a fascinating background of this carrier, and how it wound up under Gould's direction, purchase a copy of "The Texas Railroad: The Scandalous And Violent History Of The International And Great Northern Railroad, 1866-1925" by Wayne Cline.

A set of agang Texas & Pacific F7s, led by #896, at Taylor, Texas in June, 1964. Rick Burn photo.

Missouri Pacific

Following Jay Gould's control of the Missouri Pacific, along with his son George, the railroad has blossomed into a nearly 10,000 mile network by the turn of the 20th century.

The MP stretched from St. Louis to Pueblo (and a connection into Denver), Omaha (Nebraska), most of Texas, Memphis, and New Orleans.

However, it was laden with heavy debt from the Gould era. As a result, it wasn't able to transform itself into a modern, respectable, and profitable carrier until after the Great Depression.

Interestingly, the Texas and Pacific remained a separate corporate entity throughout most of the 20th century. The T&P, which even had its own offices and station in downtown Fort Worth (completed in 1931 by Wyatt C. Hedrick in the Art Deco style), and still stands today, formerly disappeared into the Missouri Pacific on October 15, 1976.

Diesel Roster

Electro-Motive (EMD)

Model Type	Road Number (1st)	Road Number (2nd)	Serial Number	Date Built	Quantity
GP35	600-614	2500-2513 (former 600-613)	28772-28786	12/1963-1/1964	15
GP35	640-649	2537-2546	29820-29829	3/1965-4/1965	10
SD40-2	790-794	3090-3094	73713-1 thru 73713-5	8/1973	5
SW8	811-818	1401-1404, 1406, 1409, 1414, 1416	15830-15837	1/1952	8
SD40-2	816-839	3115-3138	73648-1 thru 73648-24	12/1973-1/1974	24
NW2	1000-1001	-	3963-3964	10/1946	2
NW2	1002-1008	-	4588-4594	1/1947-2/1947	7
NW2	1009-1019	-	6581-6591	9/1948-5/1949	11
SW7	1020-1023	1202-1203 (former 1021-1022), 1415 (former 1023), 1417 (former 1020)	11996-11999	7/1950	4
SW9	1024-1028, 1029-1036	1222-1231 (former 1027-1036), 1410 (former 1033), 1412 (former 1026), 1419 (former 1024), 1422 (former 1025)	14022-14026, 14510-14517	2/1951, 7/1951-8/1951	13
GP7	1110-1116	-	11018-11024	3/1950	7
GP7	1117	-	14020	4/1951	1
GP7	1118-1119	627-628	14021, 14550	4/1951, 8/1951	2
GP7	1120-1124	1629-1630 (former 1120-1121), 1633 (former 1124)	14551-14555	4/1951	5
GP7	1125-1130	641-643 (former 1125-1127), 1644 (former 1129)	15824-15829	4/1952	6
GP7	1131-1136, 1137-1144	1837-1849 (former 1131, 1133-44)	22524-22529, 25345-25352	3/1957-5/1959	14
GP18	1145-1149	1850-1854	25906-25910	5/1960	5
F7A	1520-1536	850-861, 862-886	11559-11575	7/1950	17
F7A	1537-1545	887-895	12029-12037	3/1951	9
F7A	1546-1553	896-903	12042-12049	4/1951	8
F7A	1554-1557	904-907	12038-12041	4/1951	4
F7A	1581-1582	931-932	15839-15840	1/1952	2
F7B	1500B-1515B	850B-865B	8440-8451, 8469-8463	2/1949-11/1949	16
F7B	1516B-1523B	866B-873B	11576-11577, 13516-13521	7/1950, 4/1951	8
F7B	1524B-1530B	-	14541-14547	7/1951	7
F7B	1531B-1534B	-	15841-15844	1/1952	4
GP9m*	1695-1696	-	17848-17849	1/1953-2/1953	2

* Ex-Midland Valley GP7's #152-153.

General Electric (GE)

Model Type	Road Number (1st)	Road Number (2nd)	Serial Number	Date Built	Quantity
U30C	970-973	2975-2978	37559-37562	6/1970-7/1970	4
U30C	3329-3334	2994-2999	39500-39504	1/1974-2/1974	6

Steam Roster

Road Number	Wheel Arrangement	Class	Builder	Date Built
1-3	4-4-0	-	Rogers	9/1869
2 (2nd)	4-4-0	A-1	Danforth	1900
3 (2nd)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1907
4-6	4-4-0	-	Pittsburgh	9/1872
4-5 (2nds)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1907
6 (2nd)	4-6-0	D-1	-	-
7	0-6-0	B-2	Baldwin	8/1872
8-22	4-4-0	A	Baldwin	8/1872-8/1873
8 (2nd)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1907
10 (2nd)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1907
11 (2nd)	4-4-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1901
12 (2nd)	4-4-0	A-3	Baldwin	1872
14 (2nd)	4-4-0	A-3	Schenectady	1872
15 (2nd)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1907
16-21 (2nd)	4-4-0	A-3	Texas & Pacific	1900
22-25, 27, 41, 46 (2nds)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1902-1905
23-24	4-4-0	-	Rogers	9/1867
25-34	4-4-0	A-1	Pittsburgh	7/1876-11/1876
31-34 (2nd)	4-4-0	A-3	Texas & Pacific	1900
35-39, 41-44, 45 (2nd)	4-4-0	A-3	Baldwin	8/1876-9/1876
40, 45-46	0-6-0	B-3	Pittsburgh	8/1876
47-49, 51, 53-58	4-4-0	A-2	Schenectady	4/1880-7/1880
50, 52	4-4-0	-	Rogers	1870
50 (2nd)	4-4-0	-	Baldwin	1876
52 (2nd)	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1905
60, 70	4-4-0	-	Grant	1882
71-79	4-6-0	D-2	Pittsburgh	6/1880-8/1880
80	4-4-0	-	Rogers	2/1871
80 (2nd)	4-6-0	D-2	Pittsburgh	10/1880
80 (3rd)	4-4-0	A-3	Pittsburgh	2/1882
81	4-4-0	A-3	Pittsburgh	2/1882
81 (2nd)	4-6-0	D-2	Pittsburgh	10/1880
82-89, 91-92	4-6-0	D-2	Pittsburgh	2/1881-4/1881
90	4-4-0	A-3	Pittsburgh	2/1882
109-112	4-4-0	A-3	Schenectady	7/1881
113-115	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1901
116	4-4-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1897
124-126	4-4-0	A-3	Pittsburgh	2/1882
127-134, 140	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1898-1901, 1907
135-139	4-4-0	A-3	Missouri Pacific	9/1882-10/1882
141-160	2-6-0	C-1	Missouri Pacific	4/1883-12/1883
161-168	4-6-0	D-3	Brooks	12/1885-7/1886
169	0-6-0	B-5	Texas & Pacific	1907
170-182	4-6-0	D-4	Rome	12/1886-6/1887
183-185	0-6-0	B-5	Rome	9/1887
186-188	4-4-0	A-4	Rome	8/1887
189-238	4-6-0	D-5	Baldwin	7/1889-7/1897
239-242	4-6-0	D-7	Baldwin	12/1897
243-244, 264-266	4-6-0	D-7	Rogers	1898-1900
245-256	4-6-0	D-8	Rogers	1898-1899
257-263	4-6-0	D-9	Rogers	1900
267-274	4-6-0	D-7	Alco/Cooke	1901
275-316, 324-338	4-6-0	D-9	Alco/Cooke	1901-5/1903
317-323	0-6-0	B-6	Alco/Cooke	11/1902
339-340	4-4-2	E-1	Texas & Pacific	1906-1907
339-358	4-6-0	D-9	Alco/Rogers	12/1906
359-360	4-6-0	D-9	Texas & Pacific	1907
361-400	4-6-0	D-10	Alco/Cooke	10/1907
400 (2nd)	2-8-2	E4A1	Baldwin	1915
401-410	2-8-0	F-1	Baldwin	7/1912
411-420	4-6-0	D-11	Baldwin	6/1912
450-456	0-6-0	B-7	Baldwin	1/1916
457-470	0-6-0	B-8	Alco/Pittsburgh	3/1919
471-478	0-6-0	B-8a	Alco/Cooke	1/1923
480-481	0-8-0	C-2a	Baldwin	1/1926
482-489	0-8-0	C-2	Baldwin	11/1925
490-491	0-8-0	C-2a	Baldwin	5/1927
492-494	0-8-0	C-2	Baldwin	5/1927
500-505	2-10-2	G-1	Baldwin	3/1916
506-513	2-10-2	G-1a	Baldwin	3/1917-6/1917
514-525	2-10-2	G-1b	Baldwin	4/1919
526-543	2-10-2	G-1c	Alco/Brooks	12/1919
550-560	2-8-2	H-1	Alco/Schenectady	1918
600-606 (1st)	4-6-2	P-1	Baldwin	4/1919
600-606 (2nd)	2-10-4	I-1	Lima	10/1925
607-609	2-10-4	I-1	Lima	10/1925
610-624	2-10-4	I-1a	Lima	6/1927
625-639	2-10-4	I-1b	Lima	2/1928
640-654	2-10-4	I-1c	Lima	6/1928
655-669	2-10-4	I-1d	Lima	1929
700-706	4-6-2	P-1	Baldwin	1919
707-713	4-6-2	P-1a	Alco/Brooks	1919
714-721	4-6-2	P-1b	Alco/Richmond	3/1923
800-810	2-8-2	H-2	Baldwin	7/1919
900-904	4-8-2	M-1	Alco/Schenectady	11/1925
905-909	4-8-2	M-2	Baldwin	6/1928

Missouri Pacific (Texas & Pacific) caboose #13238 in Kansas City; April, 1969. This car was a former Muskogee Road caboose, rebuilt by the shops in Sedalia, Missouri. American-Rails.com collection.

Final Years

Only a few years later, in 1982, the MoPac was acquired by Union Pacific. In its final years the MP was a fine operation; in 1979 it had a net income of $32.6 million and gross revenues of over $524 million.

The Texas and Pacific lines were a primary reason for this, providing the MoPac with some of its largest markets. Since the T&P remained a separate entity for so long it is also well-remembered by railfans; the road had its own fleet of steam and diesel locomotives, in addition to a separate listing within the "Official Guide Of The Railways."

Today, the T&P's principal lines remain in active service under successor Union Pacific while other segments are still utilized by short lines.

Sources

Ambrose, Stephen E. Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad, The: Nothing Like It In The World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Cline, Wayne. Texas Railroad, The: The Scandalous And Violent History Of The International And Great Northern Railroad, 1866-1925. Lexington: 2015.

Klein, Maury. Life And Legend Of Jay Gould, The. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.

Schafer, Mike. More Classic American Railroads. Osceola: MBI Publishing, 2000.

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