This article's lead sectionmay be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(October 2022)
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went west of El Paso, near where in 1881 it connected to the Southern Pacific line to California.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2022)
Texas & Pacific depot in New Orleans, 1922
Under the influence of General Buell, the T&P was originally to be 3ft6in (1,067mm)gauge, but this was overturned when the state legislature passed a law requiring 4ft8+1⁄2in (1,435mm) gauge.[1]
The T&P had a significant foothold in Texas by the mid-1870s. Construction difficulties delayed westward progress, until American financier Jay Gould acquired an interest in the railroad in 1879. The T&P never reached San Diego; instead it met the Southern Pacific at Sierra Blanca, Texas, in 1881.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad, also controlled by Gould, leased the T&P from 1881 to 1885 and continued a cooperative relationship with the T&P after the lease ended. Missouri Pacific gained majority ownership of the Texas and Pacific Railway's stock in 1928, but allowed it to continue operation as a separate entity until they were eventually merged on October 15, 1976. On January 8, 1980, the Missouri Pacific Railroad was purchased by the Union Pacific Railroad. Because of lawsuits filed by competing railroads, the merger was not approved until September 13, 1982. Due to outstanding bonds of the Missouri Pacific, though, the actual merger with the Union Pacific Railroad took place on January 1, 1997.
Texas & Pacific station and office building in Fort Worth, Texas
Several parts of the Texas and Pacific remain to this day, mainly two towering buildings, which help define the southern side of Fort Worth's skyline—the original station and office tower and a warehouse located immediately to the west. In 2001, the passenger platforms at the T&P station were put into use for the first time in decades as the westernmost terminus for the Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail line connecting Fort Worth and Dallas. The T&P Warehouse still exists, but remains vacant with no plans to renovate it despite significant civic support and third-party developer interest. The passenger terminal and corporate offices have been converted into luxury condominiums.
Major named passenger trains of the Texas and Pacific
Major named passenger trains of the Texas and Pacific (route sections between St. Louis and Texarkana were operated by Missouri Pacific):
Texas Eagle — St. Louis–various Texas points - western section going to El Paso, with connecting Southern Pacific service to Los Angeles; southwestern section to Laredo, with car change for Mexico City; southern section going to Houston
Westerner — St. Louis–Dallas–El Paso—connection in El Paso for Southern Pacific service to Los Angeles
Timeline
1878 map showing the Texas and Pacific Railway in TexasCover Art of Texas and Pacific Railway Passenger Timetable of July 1901
1871 - Texas legislature charters the company and grant permission to purchase the Southern Trans-Continental Railway Company and the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Note: This is a different Southern Pacific Railroad company from the one referred to above.
March 21, 1872 - The Southern Pacific is purchased.
1888 - Flooding in Louisiana due to the 1886/1887 hurricane season and crop failures in Texas due to drought caused T&P to go into bankruptcy. The bonds that were sold to pay for the construction of the rail lines could not be paid, so the court converted the land into an asset of a separate company, the Texas Pacific Land Trust.
1925 - Lima Locomotive Works delivers 2-10-4 locomotives to the T&P. The type is nicknamed "Texas" as a result.
Revenue Freight Traffic (Millions of Net Ton-Miles)
T&P
KO&G/KO&G of TX
Midland Valley
Cisco & Northeastern
Pecos Valley Southern
Texas Short Line
1925
1763
193
230
4
7
0.8
1933
1498
163
84
(with T&P)
(with T&P)
(with T&P)
1944
4761
412
113
1960
4168
495
97
1970
5854
150 (merged Apr 1970)
(merged 1967)
"T&P" includes its subsidiary roads (A&S, D&PS, T-NM etc.); operated route-miles totalled 2259 at the end of 1929 (after C&NE, PVS and TSL had become subsidiaries) and 2033 at the end of 1960.
Legal disputes
The Texas and Pacific was unable to finance construction to San Diego, and as a result the Southern Pacific was able to build from California to Sierra Blanca, Texas. In doing so, Southern Pacific used land designated for, and surveyed by Texas and Pacific, in its rail line from Yuma, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas. This resulted in lawsuits, which were settled with agreements to share tracks, and to cooperate in the building of new tracks. Most of the features advantageous to Texas and Pacific were later disallowed by legislation.
Land grants
Route map of the railroad, circa 1950s (bold lines are T&P; thin lines denote connecting service for Eagle passenger trains)
From 1873 to 1881 the Texas and Pacific built a total of 972 miles (1,560km) of track; as a result it was entitled to land grants totalling 12,441,600 acres (50,349km2). T&P, however, received land only for the construction of track east of Fort Worth. This meant the firm received only 5,173,120 acres (20,935km2). The State of Texas did not award the additional area because, it said, the construction had not been completed within the time required by the firm's charter. The then state Attorney General Charles A. Culberson filed suit to recover 301,893 acres (1,222km2) on the grounds that "the road had been granted land partly on sidetracks and partly on land not subject to location."[3] The state ultimately recovered 256,046 acres (1,036km2) giving a net grant to the T&P of 4,917,074 acres (19,899km2), or 7,683 square miles. By comparison, the state of Connecticut is 5,543 square miles (14,356km2).[citation needed]
Sold to the Paris and Mount Pleasant Railroad in 1949. Donated to Abilene, Texas in 1951. Donated again to the Texas State Railroad in 1974 and was renumbered to 201. The locomotive was taken out of service at the end of the 2013 season. It is currently on display outside the Palestine engine house awaiting a possible restoration to service.
Originally Fort Worth and Denver City Railway 410. It was sold to the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1958 to help pull freight trains through the flooded waters of the Red River. The locomotive suffered a mechanical breakdown and was donated to Marshall, Texas in 1963. The locomotive was unfortunately vandalized, and many of the original hardware was stolen from the locomotive (bell, headlight, backlight, classification lanterns, and many more items). In 2008, the locomotive was moved to the Texas and Pacific Railway Museum, put on display and received a cosmetic restoration. The locomotive still remains on display today.
Donated to Fort Worth, Texas in 1951. In 1975, the locomotive was selected to pull the American Freedom Train. The locomotive was restored to operation in 1976 and pulled the AFT throughout Texas. Afterwards, the Southern Railway leased the 610 to pull excursion trains. In 1981, the locomotive returned to Texas. In 1982, it moved to the Texas State Railroad where it currently remains today on static display.
Texas Pacific Land Trust
The Texas Pacific Land Trust (NYSE: TPL) was created in 1888 in the wake of the bankruptcy of the T&P in order to provide an efficient and orderly way to sell the railway's land, receiving at the time in excess of 3.5 million acres (14,000km2). As of 31 December 2006 the Trust was still the largest private land owner in the state of Texas,[4] owning the surface estate of 966,392 acres (3,911km2) spread across 20 counties in the western part of the state. The Trust also generates income from oil & gas royalties through its 1/128 non-participating royalty interest under 85,414 acres (346km2) and 1/16 non-participating royalty interest under 386,988 acres (1,566km2).[4]
1 2 Metz, Robert (January 5, 1998). "Shaking the Money Tree: Texas Pacific Land Trust... If You Trust Land". Money Talks. Investor Features Syndicate.
Further reading
Armstrong, A. B. "Origins of the Texas and Pacific Railway." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 56.4 (1953): 489-497. JSTOR30240722
Lesley, Lewis B. "A Southern Transcontinental Railroad into California: Texas and Pacific versus Southern Pacific, 1865-1885." Pacific Historical Review 5.1 (1936): 52-60. JSTOR3633318
McKay, Seth Shepard. "Texas and the Southern Pacific Railroad, 1848-1860." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 35.1 (1931): 1-27. JSTOR30235386
Muir, Andrew Forest. "The Thirty-Second Parallel Pacific Railroad in Texas to 1872" (PhD dissertation, U Texas, 1949) online
Potts, Charles Shirley. Railroad Transportation in Texas (University of Texas, 1909) online
Reed, S.G. A history of the Texas railroads: And of transportation conditions under Spain and Mexico and the republic and the state (1941) online; encyclopedic coverage.
Roberson, Jere W. "The South and the Pacific Railroad, 1845-1855." Western Historical Quarterly 5.2 (1974): 163-186. JSTOR967035
Traxler, Ralph N. "The Texas and Pacific Railroad Land Grants: A Comparison of Land Grant Policies of the United States and Texas." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 61.3 (1958): 359-370. JSTOR30240814
Werner, George C. "History of the Texas and Pacific Railway Company" Handbook of Texas, (1976) online
Railroads in italics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
