Texas and St. Louis Railway
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Overview | |
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Headquarters | Tyler, Texas |
Locale | Texas, Arkansas & Missouri |
Dates of operation | 1871–1886 |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) gauge |
Length | 725 miles (1,167 km) |
Originally incorporated as the Tyler Tap Railroad in 1871, the Texas and St. Louis Railway (“T&SL”) constructed a three-foot gauge railroad from Gatesville, Texas through Arkansas to Bird's Point, Missouri starting in 1875 and completing by 1883. One of the two longest narrow-gauge lines in the country, the railroad went into receivership in early 1884, and another railway had acquired its trackage by 1886.
History
Tyler Tap Railroad
The citizens of
New financing and name
The backers of the Tyler Tap were able to interest St. Louis capitalist James W. Paramore—president of the St. Louis Cotton Compress Company—and his associates in the railroad, because they believed the line might result in lower shipping rates for cotton shipments from Texas to their compressors in St. Louis.[4][6] Paramore reincorporated the line, changing the name from the Tyler Tap to the Texas and St. Louis Railway on May 14, 1879, and obtaining authority to continue his projected route east to the Texas state line near Texarkana and also west from Tyler to Waco.[3][5] The reenergized T&SL built 107 miles of track between Big Sandy and Texarkana by July 12, 1880,[5] completed another 37 miles between Tyler and Athens by the end of that year, and reached Waco on September 11, 1881.[5] The following year the company laid even more track, running an additional 46 miles west from Waco to Gatesville.[5][7] This gave the line 305 miles of main track.[5]
However, a new problem developed. Paramore had intended to interface with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (“Iron Mountain”) at Texarkana.[3] But, that line had come under the control of “robber baron” Jay Gould who refused a connection on reasonable terms, apparently trying to force the T&SL into a sale or unfavorable arrangement.[3] Undeterred, Paramore decided to extend his line through Arkansas to Bird's Point, Missouri, where railroads could access a ferry over the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, and from there connect with other railroads.[8] Construction was carried out in the 1882-1883 timeframe, with the final ceremonial silver spike driven August 12, 1883 on a new bridge over the Arkansas River.[3] The result was a 725-mile continuous rail network between Gatesville and Bird's Point, being the second-longest narrow-gauge railway system in the country, exceeded only by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.[3]
Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk
The T&SL was a promoter of the Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk.
While the failure of the Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk and its sponsors did not by itself doom the narrow-gauge railroad movement in the U.S., this occurrence was seen as solid evidence that narrow-gauge lines were not competitive with standard railroads for general transport purposes, although they might still have uses in niche applications.[9]
Receivership and Sale
The T&SL ran into various forms of trouble, ranging from lack of adequate equipment, heavy rains in the Fall of 1883, and eventually a train crew strike in November 1883 when the railroad could not timely pay employees.
Effects and legacy
Where the line of the T&SL, controlled by Paramore, crossed the line of the Iron Mountain, controlled by Jay Gould, the people of the town formed at that location wanted to use for its name “Paragould.”[6] However, Gould was not happy about receiving second billing, and originally refused to use that name in his train schedules, instead using “Parmley” but later acquiescing to “Para-Gould.”[6] The city name nonetheless evolved over time to “Paragould,” which it remains today.[6]
The importance of the T&SL to the land it crossed was demonstrated by the fact that mere notice the railway was coming through the town of Brinkley, Arkansas was enough for the owners of the Cotton Plant Railroad, which originated in Brinkley, to convert to the T&SL's 3-foot gauge in order to be compatible.[11] When the successors of the T&SL converted to standard gauge, the owners of the Cotton Plant, by then 56 miles long and known as the Batesville and Brinkley (and later as the White and Black River Valley Railway), converted to standard gauge as well.[12]
References
- ^ a b c "Tyler, TX". Texas State Historical Society. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "St. Louis Southwestern Railroad History". Arkansas Railroad Museum. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "St. Louis Southwestern Railway, "The Cotton Belt Route"". American-Rails, June 12, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Tyler Tap Railroad". Texas State Historical Society. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Texas and St. Louis Railway". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "History". City of Paragould. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ "Gatesville, TX". Texas State Historical Society. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ "More than you wanted to know about Bird's Point". Southeast Missourian, May 2, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0804723699.
- ^ "St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
- ^ "Brinkley Car Works & Manufacturing Company". Mid-Continent. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
- ^ "Narrow Gauge Railroads". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved October 6, 2022.