Texas and Pacific Railway

Categories: Handbook of Texas citations | Missouri Pacific Railroad | Arkansas railroads | Louisiana railroads | Oklahoma railroads | Texas railroads | Marshall, Texas | Former Class I railroads in the United States

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. The T&P had a significant foothold in Texas by the mid 1880s but 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 but instead 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.

Timeline

• March 3 1871 - United States Congress grants a charter to the Texas Pacific Railroad Company
• 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 than the one referred to above.
• March 21 1872 - The Southern Pacific is purchased.
• March 30 - Southern Trans-Continental Railway Company is purchased.
• May 2 1872 - an Act of Congress changes the name to Texas and Pacific Railway Company
• June 12 1873 - Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad Company purchased.
• July 1 1873 - First rail line opened between Longview, Texas and Dallas, Texas
• December 28 1873 - Rail line from Marshall, Texas to Texarkana, Texas placed in service.
• October 15 1976 - merged with the Missouri Pacific

Legal Disputes

The Texas and Pacific was unable to to finance construction to San Diego, California, 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 survyed 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

The Texas and Pacific received a total of 4,972,974 acres (20,125 km²) of state land through land grants. This was considerably less what was originally allocated, as the railway had failed to construct outside of Texas, for which it would have been entitled to a federal land grant, and the much of the state Texas land grant was not allocated due to failure to complete construction on time.

References

• Entry for Texas and Pacific Railway from the Handbook of Texas Online (accessed September 10, 2005)

External links

• The Texas and Pacific Railway Railfans Depot
• Preserving the Texas and Pacific Railway
• Texas & Pacific Railway Museum