The Timber Rock Railroad (TIBR) is a shortline rail carrier operating in the states of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. Its single line runs from

Kirbyville, Texas Kirbyville is a city in Jasper County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,036 at the 2020 census. History Early Development The town was first established in 1895 when the Gulf, Beaumont, and Kansas City railroad reached the site. It wa ...

DeRidder, Louisiana DeRidder is a city in, and the parish seat of, Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. A small portion of the city extends into Vernon Parish. As of the 2010 census DeRidder had a population of 10,578. It is the smaller principal city of the ...

, about 41.5 miles. It is owned by the Watco Companies.

History

The TIBR began operations in 1998 when Watco leased the Kirbyville to DeRidder line from what is now the BNSF Railway. This line had been completed in 1906 by the Jasper and Eastern Railroad, a subsidiary of the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

. Watco later leased other lines from BNSF, including Kirbyville to

Tenaha, Texas Tenaha is a town in Shelby County, Texas, United States. The population was 989 at the 2020 census. History Tenaha was established on February 2, 1886. The community was named by members of the Hicks family (Cherokee) for Tenehaw Municipality, ...

in 2002, Kirbyville to

Silsbee, Texas Silsbee is a town in Hardin County, Texas, United States. This city is 21 miles north of Beaumont. The population was 6,935 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area. Geography Silsbee is located in eastern ...

in February 2004, and

Somerville, Texas Somerville ( ) is a city in Burleson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,312 at the 2020 census. Somerville is named for Albert Somerville the first president of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. Geography Somerville is lo ...

to Silsbee in July 2004. At that point, the line was operating across about 290 miles of track. But thereafter, the line began discontinuing service on various segments. By the time in early 2017 when the BNSF exercised an option to take back over operation of the trackage from Silsbee to Tenaha, TIBR was reduced to the original Kirbyville to DeRidder line.

Operations

Besides the endpoints of Kirbyville and DeRidder, the line serves Bon Wier, Texas and

Merryville, Louisiana Merryville is a town in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,103 at the 2010 census. It is part of the DeRidder Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Merryville is located at (30.753916, -93.536991). U.S. Rou ...

. While the TIBR will move any commodity, the primary traffic on the line is aggregates, lumber products, plastics, and fuel. The line interchanges with the BNSF in Kirbyville, and 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 ...

in DeRidder.

References

Notes

{{Texas railroads Louisiana railroads Texas railroads Watco