Gulf, Colorado and San Saba Railway

Last updated
Gulf, Colorado and San Saba Railway
Overview
Headquarters Brady, Texas
Reporting mark GCSR
Locale Texas
Dates of operation1993 (1993)2013 (2013)
Predecessor Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Successor Heart of Texas Railroad
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Length67.5 miles (108.6 km)

The Gulf, Colorado and San Saba Railway( reporting mark GCSR) was a short-line railroad headquartered in Brady, Texas. The GCSR operated a former Santa Fe branch line from an interchange with the BNSF Railway at Lometa to Brady. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012 and sold the line to the Heart of Texas Railroad in 2013.

History

Construction of the line westward from Lometa began in 1910, and by the end of 1911 passenger, mail, and freight service extended from Lometa via San Saba and Brady all the way to the endpoints of Eden and Menard. Shipments of grain and livestock (cattle, calves, sheep, and goats) were the primary sources of revenue on the line until the traffic shifted to truck transportation in the 1960s. By 1972, the Santa Fe abandoned the lines west of Brady, and in the following two decades closed most of its stations as well. [1] The GCSR bought the line from Santa Fe subsidiary Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad on May 11, 1993. [2]

The company filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code on July 3, 2012. [3] The Heart of Texas Railroad agreed to buy the railroad on December 17, 2012, and began operating under the new name January 29, 2013. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Saba County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

San Saba County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in western Central Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 5,730. Its county seat is San Saba. The county is named after the San Saba River, which flows through the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concho County, Texas</span> County in Texas, United States

Concho County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,303. Its county seat is Paint Rock. The county was founded in 1858 and later organized in 1879. It is named for the Concho River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lometa, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Lometa is a city in Lampasas County, Texas, United States. The population was 856 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brady, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Brady is a city in McCulloch County, Texas, United States. Brady refers to itself as the "Heart of Texas", as it is the city closest to the geographical center of the state, which is about 15 miles northeast of Brady. Its population was 5,528 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of McCulloch County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Railway</span>

The York Railway is a shortline railroad operating 42 miles (68 km) of track in and near York, Pennsylvania. The company was created in 1999 through a consolidation of Yorkrail, Inc. and the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad (M&P), both owned by the Emons Railroad Group, and it immediately sold the property thus acquired to limited liability lessor subsidiaries with the same names. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. gained control of the company, and the other Emons properties, in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Saba River</span>

The San Saba River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It is an undeveloped and scenic waterway located on the northern boundary of the Edwards Plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway</span> Former railway company

The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. From its starting point in Galveston, Texas, the railroad eventually extended northwestwards across the state to Sweetwater and northwards via Fort Worth to Purcell, Oklahoma.

Rochelle is an unincorporated community in McCulloch County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 163 in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad</span>

The Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad was a Class III shortline railroad that operated in the southern portion of Wisconsin and northern portion of Illinois from 1985 until 1997.

Article X of the Texas Constitution of 1876 covers railroad companies and the creation of the Railroad Commission of Texas. The federal government later created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads, and eight of the nine sections of Article X were repealed in 1969 as "deadwood".

The Youngstown and Southeastern Railroad is a short-line railroad subsidiary of Midwest & Bluegrass Rail that operates freight trains between Youngstown, Ohio and Darlington, Pennsylvania, United States. The line is owned by the Columbiana County Port Authority, leased to the Eastern States Railroad, which is owned by the line's primary shipper, and contracted out to the YSRR. Freight is interchanged with CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway at the Youngstown end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Transcon</span> Rail corridor owned by BNSF

The Southern Transcon is a main line of BNSF Railway comprising 11 subdivisions between Southern California and Chicago, Illinois. Completed in its current alignment in 1908 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, when it opened the Belen Cutoff in New Mexico and bypassed the steep grades of Raton Pass, it now serves as a mostly double-tracked intermodal corridor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Texas and Lubbock Railway</span>

The West Texas & Lubbock Railway is a shortline railroad in Texas, owned by Watco. It connects the BNSF in Lubbock with agricultural and oil-producing areas to the west and southwest. The company operates 107 miles of two ex-Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway lines, extending to Whiteface and Seagraves parallel to State Highway 114 and U.S. Highway 62. The primary commodities hauled are fertilizer, construction aggregates, grain, cotton, chemicals, peanuts and plastics.

The following is a brief history of the North American rail system, mainly through major changes to Class I railroads, the largest class by operating revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway</span>

The Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway, chartered under the laws of Texas on June 1, 1885, was part of a plan conceived by Buckley Burton Paddock and other Fort Worth civic leaders to create a transcontinental route linking New York, Fort Worth, and the Pacific port of Topolobampo, which they believed would stimulate the growth and development of southwest Texas in general, and the economy of Fort Worth in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Station</span>

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Station is located on 1501 Jones Street in Fort Worth, Texas. The depot was built by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad in 1900 and renovated in 1938. It was originally called the Fort Worth Union Depot. Other tenant railroads at the station were the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway, the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway ('Frisco') and the Southern Pacific Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cane Belt Railroad</span>

The Cane Belt Railroad was chartered in the U.S. state of Texas in 1898. Formed by a group of businessmen from Eagle Lake, the short-line railroad was intended to bring the area's sugarcane to market. In 1902 a disagreement between two of the railroad's chief promoters proved deadly. By 1904 the line was in operation from Sealy to Matagorda on the Gulf of Mexico. That year the company's stock was bought by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the line continued operations under lease to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway starting in 1905. By the 1920s, the local sugarcane industry collapsed but the railroad was saved by the discovery of two nearby sulphur mines. In 1948, the Cane Belt was merged into the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. In the 1990s most of the original line was abandoned after the last sulphur mine closed. By 2013, only a small portion of the line south of Bay City was operating as part of the BNSF Railway.

The Central Texas & Colorado River Railway is a short-line railroad headquartered in Brady, Texas. Formerly known as the Heart of Texas Railroad, the railroad operates a former Santa Fe branch line from an interchange with the BNSF Railway at Lometa to Brady. It acquired the line from the bankrupt Gulf, Colorado and San Saba Railway in 2013. The railroad is currently owned by OmniTrax. They bought the railroad in 2016.

The Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railway, known colloquially as the “Ringling Railroad,” ran from Ardmore, Oklahoma to Ringling, Oklahoma, with a branch to Healdton, Oklahoma. It was started in 1913, and was sold to an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) affiliate in 1926.

References

  1. Osborn, William. "East of Eden, West of Lometa: The Santa Fe Railroad and the Livestock Industry of the Edwards Plateau, 1885-1975," presentation to the 31st annual meeting of the Edwards Plateau Historical Association, 5 Oct. 2002, accessed 24 May 2013.
  2. "Employer Status Determination: Gulf, Colorado and San Saba Railway" (PDF). Railroad Retirement Board . Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  3. "Gulf, Colorado & San Saba Railway Corporation," business-bankruptcies.com
  4. "Employer Status Determination: Heart of Texas Railroad" (PDF). Railroad Retirement Board . 19 July 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2015.