The Austin Western Railroad is a

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

headquartered in

Round Rock Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Williamson County, Texas, Williamson County (with a small part in Travis County, Texas, Travis County), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 as of ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. AWRR is a subsidiary of

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) is a transportation company based in Pittsburg, Kansas, formed in 1983 by Charles R. Webb. Watco was composed of four divisions: transportation, mechanical, terminal and port services, and compliance. Watco is th ...

. AWRR operates a 103 mile (166 km) line from

Fairland, Texas Fairland is an unincorporated community in Burnet County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had an estimated population of 290 in 2000. History Several families from the eastern states settled here in the ea ...

to an interchange with the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

at Elgin. Tracks also continue from Elgin to an interchange with UPRR at

Giddings Giddings may refer to: *Giddings (surname) *Giddings, Texas *Mount Giddings, a mountain in Antarctica *Giddings Peak, a mountain in Antarctica *Giddings Hall, Georgetown College Giddings Hall, originally called Recitation Hall, is a Greek Revival ...

. There is an additional interchange with the UPRR at McNeil. AWRR has rights to operate a 6.4 mile (10.3 km) branch from Fairland to Marble Falls, and also 28 miles (45 km) from Fairland to Llano but these tracks have not seen revenue service in decades and the bridge is washed out at the Little Llano River approximately six miles east of Llano. This portion comprises the Austin and Northwestern Railroad Historic District. The line, the ultimate successor to the

Austin and Northwestern Railroad The Austin and Northwestern Railroad began construction on a rail line west of Austin, Texas, United States, USA, toward Llano, Texas, Llano on April 20, 1881. The railroad was originally built as a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge line with pla ...

, was part of the

Houston and Texas Central Railway The Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC), was an 872-mile (1403-km) railway system chartered in Texas in 1848, with construction beginning in 1856. The line eventually stretched from Houston northward to Dallas and Denison, Texas. with branch ...

, and later part of the

Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad was a railroad in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Location The Morgan's Louisiana and ...

followed by the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

. It is now owned by

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, officially stylized as CapMetro, is a public transportation provider located in Austin, Texas. It operates bus, paratransit services and a commuter rail system known as the Capital MetroRail in A ...

, with which AWRR has had the contract from September 2007 to operate freight service. AWRR traffic includes aggregates, crushed limestone,

calcium bicarbonate Calcium bicarbonate, also called calcium hydrogencarbonate, has the chemical formula Ca(HCO3)2. The term does not refer to a known solid compound; it exists only in aqueous solution containing calcium (Ca2+), bicarbonate (), and carbonate () ions ...

, lumber, beer, chemicals, plastics and paper. In addition, the Austin Steam Train Association operates excursion trains between Cedar Park and Burnet.

External links

Austin Western Railroad website

Link to Union Pacific Website with AUAR Details

Austin Steam Train Association
{{US Class III - Texas Texas railroads Watco