The Gulf, Colorado and San Saba Railway was 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

Brady, Texas Brady is a city in McCulloch County, Texas, United States. Brady refers to itself as the "Heart of Texas", as it is the city closest to the geographical centre, geographical center of the state, which is about 15 miles northeast of Brady. Its popul ...

. The GCSR operated a former Santa Fe

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

from an interchange with the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

at Lometa to

Brady Brady may refer to: People * Brady (surname) * Brady (given name) * Brady (nickname) * Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998) Places in the United States * Brady, Montana, a census-designated pla ...

. The company declared bankruptcy in 2012 and sold the line to the

Heart of Texas Railroad The Central Texas & Colorado River Railway is a short-line railroad headquartered in Brady, Texas. Formerly known as the Heart of Texas Railroad, the railroad operates a portion of the former Santa Fe branch line to Eden, between Brady and an ...

in 2013.

History

Construction of the line westward from Lometa began in 1910, and by the end of 1911 passenger, mail, and freight service extended from Lometa via San Saba and

all the way to the endpoints of Eden and

Menard Menard may refer to: Places Canada *Menard River, a tributary of the Wawagosic River in Quebec, Canada United States * Menard County, Illinois ** Menard, Illinois * Menard County, Texas ** Menard, Texas * Menard–Hodges site, archaeological s ...

. Shipments of grain and livestock (cattle, calves, sheep, and goats) were the primary sources of revenue on the line until the traffic shifted to truck transportation in the 1960s. By 1972, the Santa Fe abandoned the lines west of Brady, and in the following two decades closed most of its stations as well. The GCSR bought the line from Santa Fe subsidiary

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. From its starting point in Galveston, Texas, the railroad eventually extended northwestwards across the state to Sweetwater and northwards via ...

on May 11, 1993. The company filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code on July 3, 2012."Gulf, Colorado & San Saba Railway Corporation," business-bankruptcies.com
/ref> The

agreed to buy the railroad on December 17, 2012, and began operating under the new name January 29, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulf Colorado San Saba Railway Defunct Texas railroads Spin-offs of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Railway companies established in 1993 Railway companies disestablished in 2013