The Texas Interurban Railway was an electric

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railroad that operated from

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

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 ...

, to

Terrell Terrell, Terell, Terrel, or Terrelle may refer to: Places United States *Terrell, Georgia, unincorporated community *Terrell, North Carolina, unincorporated community in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States *Terrell, Texas, city in Kau ...

and Denton from 1923 to 1932. The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (Katy) line was electrified between Dallas and Denton and services were withdrawn after the Dallas Union Trust Company

foreclosed Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

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Services

As part of the contract that created

Dallas Power and Light Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

, which first provided electric power in

, the parent company,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

, was required to build two

systems from Dallas, guaranteed by a bond of $550,000. The line from Dallas to

opened on January 14, 1923. An interurban service from Dallas to Denton had been proposed in 1906, but it was 1923 before the company Strickland, Calder and Hobson, who were to become the Texas Interurban Railway Company, began work on the

Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive ra ...

(Katy) branch between Dallas and Denton. After a legal battle with landowners in Dallas, the inaugural trip was made on September 30, 1924. A public service started the next day, costing $1.25 for a one-way ticket and $2.40 for a return ($ and $ in adjusted for inflation). The line had 25 stops, with city termini on branches off the Katy line; in Denton the brick terminal was built at the corner of Ash (Austin) and McKinney streets. The line was electrified using a

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficia ...

with power supplied from three substations. Six passenger cars and one express car provided an hourly service from Denton from 5 am and 6 pm. The average speed was and cars reached a top speed of . The bus service between Dallas and Denton began offering lower fares from 1925, and though the line to Terrell was profitable, the Denton line was never financially successful. The rail service was withdrawn on March 13, 1932, after the Dallas Union Trust Company

on the Texas Interurban Railway. The property was auctioned off, the cars transferred to the Dallas Railway and Terminal Company and some were later used as trolleys in Dallas until 1956.

References

Notes

Sources

* Defunct Texas railroads Interurban railways in Texas Railway lines opened in 1924 Railway lines closed in 1932 {{Texas-transport-stub