Early Railroad Development in Tarrant County
Railroads operating in the Tarrant County area by 1876 included the Texas and Pacific (T&P), Fort Worth
and Denver City Railway Company (FW&DC), St. Louis Arkansas and Texas Railway Company of Texas
(SLA&T), and the Chicago Rock Island and Texas Railway Company (CRI&T). These railroads served
either as a terminus on their respective line or later as a through-point for transcontinental routes. Many of
these lines were developed to capture transportation markets from competing roads or to develop an
untapped market in advance of other railroads.
Texas and Pacific Railroad (T&P)
The T&P was the only railroad in Texas and one of the few in the United States that operated under a federal
charter. The U.S. Congress granted a charter to the T&P Company on March 3, 1871, to build a southern
transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas and San Diego, California. The Texas Legislature
recognized the federal charter and authorized the company to purchase the Southern Trans-Continental
Company and the Southern Pacific Railroad Company (both originally chartered by the state of Texas). In
1872, Congress changed the name to the Texas and Pacific Railway Company (Werner 2013). Construction
of various lines totaling 125 miles in length between Longview and Dallas, Texas were completed by 1873.
An additional 74 miles between Marshall and Texarkana were completed by December 1873 (Werner
2013). The T&P continued construction, adding an additional 44 miles of line from Dallas (Eagle Ford) to
Fort Worth by July 19, 1876 (Reed 1981:363-364).
Livestock brought up from central and southern Texas and from the western Plains to the cattle markets of
Fort Worth were now driven to the railhead in Dallas, bypassing Abilene, and other more northern shipping
points. Before the rail to Fort Worth had been completed, the cattle drive to the Dallas railhead was difficult
as there was no bridge or easy ford across the Trinity River between Dallas and Fort Worth. Owing to these
difficulties, the T&P extension of its tracks into Fort Worth became the first railroad to enter the city (Reed
1981:363–364).
Fort Worth & Western Railroad (FWWR)
Seeking to gain trackage in the Fort Worth area from the BNSF, the Fort Worth and Western Railroad
Company was chartered on May 13, 1988. Prior to its merger into the Burlington Northern, the track was
owned by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad Company. In October 1988, the company began operating
over 6.5 miles of track controlled by the Tarantula Corporation. The City of Grapevine currently owns the
Tarantula Train, and it is used as an excursion passenger train that operates open coaches on the FWWR
between Eighth Avenue and the Fort Worth Stockyards, extending to Grapevine (Cravens 2024).
Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR)
The UPRR in and around Fort Worth originally operated as the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. This
line was the first to enter Northwest Texas, and thus contributed significantly to the area’s growth,
specifically in agriculture. The line furnished plant seed for experimental plots of private lands, urged the
introduction of cotton to the plain’s country, and kept farmers in business during the 1890s drought years
by providing them with free seed. Service between Fort Worth and Denver began on April 1, 1888, and
during that year stock control of the rail was acquired by the Denver, Texas, and Fort Worth Railroad. The
Denver, Texas and Fort Worth then became part of the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway Company.
The line serviced Fort Worth and the surrounding area, transporting necessary goods and contributing to
the area’s development (Billingsley 2024).
Saint Louis Southwestern Railway Company (SSW) [aka as the Cotton Belt Route]
The SSW line was begun as the Texas and St. Louis Railway Company (T&SL) in 1879 and intended to
tie East Texas cotton fields with the cotton compresses and warehouses located in St. Louis, Missouri. It
quickly became known as the Cotton Belt Route, although the origin of the name is unknown. The road
was reorganized as the SLA&T in 1886. The 99-mile line from Commerce in East Texas to Fort Worth was
completed in 1888. The portion of the road in Texas was transferred by foreclosure sale in 1891 to the SSW
of Texas with general headquarters and car shops in Tyler.
The SSW continued to expand throughout East Texas timber lands over the next 25 years. Rail
transportation began to decline and branch lines started to be abandoned in the 1930s due to competition
from other railways and the development of trucking companies, but primarily due to the depletion of
Eastern Texas timber, which was a major rail commodity. In 1980, the SSW doubled in size when it began
operating the former Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific track from Tucamari, New Mexico through Dalhart
to Kansas City and St. Louis. By 1984, the Texas branch merged into the parent company of the SSW (Reed
1981:412-422).
The three railroads which historically are situated along the 2.1-mile TRE corridor are the FWWR, the
Cotton Belt Railroad, and the UPRR. The underpasses and overpasses, which were developed during the
“Five Year Plan” for public improvements prior to the onset of the Depression, have added significance
(TCHRS 1986). Bridges and culverts allow trains to cross natural and man-made bodies of water, whether
they are rivers, creeks, or drainage ditches.
Trestle bridges are located along the railroad corridor consist of trestle bridges built between 1902 and
1953. The bridges are wood, steel, or a combination of both materials. Some of the trestle bridges have a
central truss span of steel.
The culverts located along the railroad corridor consist of culverts passing under the rail line. Several of the
culverts’ construction materials include brick, wood, and concrete. The culverts were constructed between
approximately 1900 and 1951. Many of the brick and concrete culverts have a date stamp on them indicating
the year of construction.
The underpasses and overpasses were constructed between 1930 and 1950. The 1930s reinforced concrete
and steel underpasses were constructed by the city of Fort Worth and the T&P to separate auto traffic from
the rail traffic. Additionally, the overpasses provide for pedestrian usage adjacent to the auto traffic,
allowing for maintenance to occur. Funding for these improvements was provided by municipal bonds, the
T&P and the WPA. Two railroad overpasses are marked with T&P’s logo (1925 Steel Trestle Bridge
(Vickery Boulevard, Fort Worth) and the 1930 T&P Underpass (Henderson Road, Fort Worth). There are
two 1940s Rock Island structures with logos on the side to identify the owner (Howard, et al 2013).
REFERENCES CITED
Billingsley, William C.
2024 “Fort Worth and Denver Railway,” Handbook of Texas Online.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/egf03. Published by the Texas State Historical
Association.
Cravens, Chris
2024 “Fort Worth and Western Railroad,” Handbook of Texas Online.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/egftb. Published by the Texas State Historical
Association.
Howard, Erica L., Deborah Dobson-Brown, and Kate Singleton
2013 Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority TEX Rail
Corridor.
Reed, S. G.
1981 A History of the Texas Railroads and of Transportation under Spain and Mexico and the Republic
of Texas and the State. Reprint Edition; originally published 1941. St. Clair Publishing Company,
Houston.
Tarrant County Historic Resource Survey (TCHRS)
1986 Principal Findings and Resource Characteristics. Historic Preservation Council for Tarrant County,
Texas.
Werner, George C.
2013 “Texas and Pacific Railway,” Handbook of Texas Online.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/egt08. Published by the Texas State Historical
Association.