The Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern Railroad is a
Class III 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 oper ...
owned by
Patriot Rail Company
Patriot Rail Company LLC (Patriot Rail) is a holding company for a number of shortline railroads across the United States.
In June 2012, Patriot Rail was acquired by SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners (SteelRiver).
On August 8, 2022 Patriot Rai ...
of
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...
, with 39.3 miles
of track in southeastern Oklahoma.
It is operated along with its affiliate, the
De Queen and Eastern Railroad , in southwest Arkansas, as a single combined railroad with 91 miles of track.
Specifically, the TOE runs from
Valliant, Oklahoma
Valliant is a town in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 754 at the 2010 census.
History
Valliant was founded June 2, 1902, in what was the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, and named for Frank W. Valliant, a chief div ...
through
Wright City,
Broken Bow, and
Eagletown to the Oklahoma/Arkansas border, where the DQE continues through
De Queen,
Lockesburg and
Dierks to
Perkins, Arkansas.
History
The TOE was chartered October 21, 1910 to build a railroad from Valliant eastward to De Queen, but was quickly acquired by DQE. It was essentially completed by 1921 when it built to the state line, at which point it was shortly joined by DQE’s line.[ From an early date, ownership was held by Dierks Lumber & Coal Company, later ]Dierks Forests Dierks Forests, Inc., known until 1954 as the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company and originally known as Choctaw Lumber Co., was a timber harvesting and processing company primarily in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Starting with a purchase of forest in 1903 i ...
, which used the lines to haul primarily lumber, paper, coal and grain.[ The roads also had minimal passenger operations, but this ended by 1948.][ Dierks Forests and the rail lines were sold to Weyerhaeuser Company in the 1960’s, and Weyerhaeuser sold the rail lines to Patriot Rail in 2010.]
Operations
The TOE/DQE still move timber products, like plywood chips and pulpboard. But they also carry bulk products like corn, stone, soybeans and chemicals.[
The lines 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 ...
through the Kiamichi Railroad
The Kiamichi Railroad Company is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Hugo, Oklahoma.
KRR operates two lines totaling which intersect in Hugo, as well as maintaining trackage rights on an additional of track. The main line (1 ...
at Valliant; with the Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...
at De Queen; and, 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 Pac ...
at Perkins.[ They also interchange with the shortline WFEC Railroad Company at Valliant.][
Valliant has a maintenance of way equipment repair facility, and an open car repair shed with two tracks under roof with capacity for 4 cars, together with a ready track that will hold 6 cars.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Oklahoma Eastern Railroad
Oklahoma railroads