The Austin and Northwestern Railroad began construction on a rail line west of
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
,
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, toward
Llano on April 20, 1881. The railroad was originally built as a
narrow gauge line with plans to connect to the
Texas and Pacific Railway at
Abilene. Construction reached
Burnet, Texas
Burnet ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Burnet County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,436 at the 2020 census.
Both the city and the county were named for David Gouverneur Burnet, the first (provisional) president of the Repu ...
, by 1882 and the line was later extended to
Granite Mountain by 1885 - when the railroad was contracted to haul pink granite for the new
Texas State Capitol building in Austin. The company later extended its line to Marble Falls by using the charter of the Granite Mountain and Marble Falls City Railroad. Due to a bend in the tracks, trains would occasionally derail, accidentally dumping some of the pink granite.
The rocks which remain are a local point of interest.
The line was
converted
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
to and by 1892 the railroad was extended to Llano. In 1901 the Texas legislature approved the merger of the Austin and Northwestern and the
Houston and Texas Central Railroad
The Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC), was an 872-mile (1403-km) railway system chartered in Texas in 1848, with construction beginning in 1856. The line eventually stretched from Houston northward to Dallas and Denison, Texas. with branch ...
. As a condition of the merger, a new passenger terminal was constructed at Austin, and the line was extended from Burnet to
Lampasas in 1903. The
Texas and New Orleans Railroad absorbed the line in 1934 and it was later absorbed into the
Southern Pacific Company.
In 1986, Southern Pacific elected to abandon the entire Giddings to Llano line. The City of Austin and
Capital Metro purchased the railroad for $9.3 million, with the intent of using the
right-of-way as a mass transit corridor. Capital Metro commenced commuter rail service vis-a-vis
Capital MetroRail
Capital MetroRail is a hybrid rail (light rail with some features similar to commuter rail) line that serves the Greater Austin area in Texas, and which is owned by Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Capital Metro. The Red Line, Capi ...
in 2010 on 32 miles of track, running from
Leander, Texas to Austin.
The operating history of the Austin and Northwestern Railroad, subsequent to Capital Metro's acquisition of the railroad, is as follows:
*
RailTex
RailTex was a transportation holding company that specialized in owning and operating short line railroads across North America.
Based in San Antonio, Texas, the public company was a leader in making unprofitable lines shed by Class I railroads ...
A&NW (AUNW): August 15, 1986 to May 6, 1996
*
Longhorn Railroad (LHRR), operated by Central Tennessee: May 6, 1996 to April 2000
*
Austin Area Terminal Railroad (AUAR), operated by Trans-Global Solutions, Inc: April 2000 to October 1, 2007
*
Austin Western Railroad (AWRR), operated by
Watco: October 1, 2007 to present
In 1997 a 30mi stretch of the track running from Llano to the
unincorporated community of Fairland, Texas was added to the
National Register of Historic Places as the
.
Cities named after A&NW officials
*
Cedar Park, Texas was previously named Bruggerhoff, after a A&NW railroad official
*
Leander, Texas is named after a A&NW railroad official
*
Bertram, Texas is named after the largest shareholder of the A&NW railroad
*
Manor, Texas is named after someone who donated land to the H&TC railroad in the area now known as Manor
*
Elgin, Texas
Elgin ( ) is a city in Bastrop County in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 9,784 at the 2020 census. Elgin is also known as the Sausage Capital of Texas and the Brick Capital of the Southwest, due to the presence of three operating bri ...
is named after the H&TC's land commissioner
*
Giddings, Texas is named after someone who was instrumental in bringing the H&TC railroad to Giddings
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin Northwestern Railroad
Defunct Texas railroads
Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company
Railway companies established in 1881
Railway companies disestablished in 1901
Spin-offs of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company
Railway companies disestablished in 1996
Narrow gauge railroads in Texas
1986 disestablishments in Texas
3 ft gauge railways in the United States
1881 establishments in Texas