The Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway is a

shortline 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 ...

subsidiary of the

Rio Grande Pacific Corporation The Rio Grande Pacific Corporation is a railroad holding company. Rio Grande Pacific Corporation plans, designs, implements, manages and operates short line railroads in the United States. The company was founded in 1986 with railroads in six state ...

that operates in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and

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 ...

. The line for which it is named extends from

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...

to just north of

Altus, Oklahoma Altus () is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 19,813 at the 2010 census, a loss of 7.7 percent compared to 21,454 in 2000. Altus is home to Altus Air Force Base, the United States Air ...

, through

Wichita County, Texas Wichita County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 129,350. The county seat is Wichita Falls. The county was created in 1858 and organized in 1882. Wichita County is part of the Wichita ...

Tillman County, Oklahoma Tillman County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 7,992. The county seat is Frederick, Oklahoma, Frederick. Histo ...

, and

Jackson County, Oklahoma Jackson County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,446. Its county seat is Altus. According to the ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', the coun ...

. It interchanges 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 Paci ...

(UP) and

BNSF 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 Wichita Falls, with Farmrail (FMRC),

Stillwater Central Railroad Stillwater Central Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Oklahoma. A subsidiary of Watco, the SLWC operates over of track in the state from Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Sapulpa through Oklahoma City through Lawton, Oklahoma, Lawton to Snyder, Okl ...

(SLWC), and the BNSF at Altus, and with Grainbelt (GNBC) at

Frederick, Oklahoma Frederick is a city and county seat of Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,940 at the 2010 census. It is an agriculture-based community that primarily produces wheat, cotton, and cattle. Frederick is home to three d ...

. It carries predominantly grain, chemicals and agricultural products.

History

The line in question was completed by the

Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, its affiliate the Northwestern Railway Company of Texas, and two subsidiaries collectively constructed a railway running from Wichita Falls, Texas through Altus, Oklahoma to Forgan, Oklahoma, with a bran ...

(the Oklahoma portion) and the affiliated Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway of Texas (the Texas portion) in 1910, and became part of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MKT) system in 1911. The line was originally longer, but was cut back from Forgan, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, to Altus in 1973, leaving approximately 77 miles of trackage from Wichita Falls to Altus. In June 1982, the

Oklahoma Department of Transportation The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is an government agency, agency of the government of Oklahoma responsible for the construction and maintenance of the state's transportation infrastructure. Under the leadership of the Oklahoma Sec ...

(ODOT) acquired the 61.02 miles of trackage between Altus and the Oklahoma/Texas state line, while the UP ended up with the trackage from the border to Wichita Falls. In early 1991, the WTJR, a brand new company, separately leased both segments of the line. Shortline service started January 14, 1991. The Lease on the Union Pacific segment was renewed in 2010, and again in 2016 for 10 years. The Oklahoma segment was purchased by WTJR from ODOT around the end of 2010. In the beginning, the WTJR operated a second unconnected line, running from a connection with the UP at

Waurika, Oklahoma Waurika is the county seat of Jefferson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,064 at the 2010 census, a 4.36 percent decrease from 2,158 at the 2000 census. An article from 1985 in ''The Oklahoman'' claimed that Waurika promoted ...

to the town of

Walters, Oklahoma Walters is a town in Cotton County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,551 at the 2010 census. The city, nestled between twin creeks, is the county seat of Cotton County. The city's motto is "Small town; Big heart." History The lan ...

, about 24 miles. This was a former

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

branch, leased to the

Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKT) was a railroad operating in its namesake states in the 1980s. OKT I The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad was originally created on May 29, 1980, after the demise of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pa ...

, an MKT subsidiary, after the Rock Island's abandonment in 1980.Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide, 5th Edition,

Kalmbach Publishing Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

, 1996, , p. 334 ODOT had acquired the property as part of a larger purchase in October of 1982. The lines were leased to the UP, and in 1991 the Waurika-to-Walters segment was subleased by the UP to WTJR. UP acquired ownership of the line in 2012. But WTJR no longer operates the line: the WTJR website does not mention the line at all, while State of Oklahoma Railroad maps, which used to show it as a WTJR line now show it as a UP line.

References

External links

Wichita, Tillman & Jackson Railway Company
Oklahoma railroads Texas railroads Switching and terminal railroads Spin-offs of the Union Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Oklahoma {{US-rail-company-stub