The St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas , operated the lines of its parent company, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway within the state of Texas. The St. Louis Southwestern, known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply the Cotton Belt, was organized on January 12, 1891, although it had its origins in a series of short rail lines founded in 1870 in

Tyler, Texas Tyler is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the largest city and county seat of Smith County, Texas, Smith County. It is also the largest city in Northeast Texas. With a 2020 census population of 105,995, Tyler was the List of cities in Texa ...

, that connected northeastern

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 ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and southeastern

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. Construction of the original Tyler Tap Railroad began in the summer of 1875. The St. Louis Southwestern of Texas merged with the property of the Tyler Southeastern Railway on October 6, 1899. The property of the Texas and Louisiana Railway was acquired and merged on July 2, 1903. In 1948 the St. Louis Southwestern of Texas operated a total of 856.82 miles of track. The Interstate Commerce Commission authorized St. Louis Southwestern Railway to lease the Texas company in December 1953. The lease was entered into on March 1, 1954 to maintain, operate and use properties of the company until July 1, 1990. The track miles of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas operated under lease by the St. Louis Southwestern Railway in 1967 were 753.74 miles. This was further broken down to Main line 558.87 miles and 194.87 miles of yard track and sidings. The

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gained Interstate Commerce Commission approval to control the Cotton Belt system on April 14, 1932 but continued to operate it as a separate company until 1992, when the SP consolidated the Cotton Belt's operations into the parent company. During its years of operation, the revenues from operations in Texas generated more than $1 million per year, qualifying the line as a Class I railroad by the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...

. The St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas was leased to its corporate parent on March 1, 1954.

References

*Lewis, Robert G. ''Handbook of American Railroads''. New York:

Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation Simmons-Boardman Publishing is an American publisher, specializing in industry publications. It is headquartered in New York City, New York, and has offices in Chicago, Omaha, and Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. The company was created from a merger of '' ...

, 1951, pp. 197–9. *Moody's Steam Railroads 1949. *Moody's Transportation Manual September 1968. {{North America Class I Defunct Texas railroads Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1891

See also

References