Gulf Coast Lines
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Gulf Coast Lines was the name of a railroad system comprising three principal railroads, as well as some smaller ones, that stretched from
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
, via
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of 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-sma ...
and
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
to
Brownsville, Texas Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. It ...
. Originally chartered as subsidiaries of the
Frisco Railroad Frisco may refer to: Places in the United States *Frisco, Alabama, an unincorporated community *San Francisco, California, as a nickname *Frisco, Colorado, a home rule municipality **Frisco Historic Park – see Frisco Schoolhouse * Frisco, Idaho ...
, the system became independent in 1916 and was purchased by the
Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...
in 1925. The parent company of the independent Gulf Coast Lines was the
New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway The New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway was a constituent element of the Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi Rive ...
, incorporated in Louisiana on February 28, 1916, which bought the property and assets of the Frisco-owned New Orleans, Texas and Mexico ''Railroad''. The NOT&M was headquartered in New Orleans, and owned or leased a number of other railroads in Louisiana and Texas, operating them all together as the Gulf Coast Lines. As of December 31, 1916, the total trackage operated by the Gulf Coast Lines system was , including branches, sidings, trackage rights, and leased lines.


Constituent railroads


Primary lines

According to a corporate history published in the 1950s by the
Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...
,
The Gulf Coast Lines was projected originally by B. F. Yoakum, chairman of the board of the Rock Island and Frisco Lines. Yoakum's plan envisioned using the Rock Island and Frisco, together with.several railroads to be built in Texas and Louisiana and now known as the Gulf Coast Lines, to form a continuous line of railroad extending from Chicago, St. Louis and Memphis to Baton Rouge, Houston, Brownsville, Tampico and Mexico City.
The Frisco and Rock Island were conjoined under his leadership in 1905 and known as the "Yoakum Line." The first section of the GCL was the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway. Construction was done by the B.F. & P.M. Johnson Co. of
St. Elmo, Illinois St. Elmo is a city in Fayette County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,254 at the 2020 census. St. Elmo was established in 1871. Geography St. Elmo is located at (39.026709, -88.852062). According to the 2021 census gazetteer fi ...
, which began in 1903 from
Robstown, Texas Robstown is a city in Nueces County, Texas, United States, and a western suburb of Corpus Christi. It was founded about 1906, and was named for Robert Driscoll. The population was 11,487 as of the 2010 census. The Texas State Legislature offici ...
(near Corpus Christi) to
Brownsville, Texas Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. It ...
. The line was opened for business on July 4, 1904. By the end of 1907, the StLB&M was extended to
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, with trackage rights via the
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. From its starting point in Galveston, Texas, the railroad eventually extended northwestwards across the state to Sweetwater and northwards via ...
between Algoa and Houston. The railroad was the first to reach the
Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...
, where it had a great effect on the region. According to the ''Handbook of Texas Online'',
The coming of the railroad and irrigation made the Valley into a major agricultural center. In Hidalgo County, land that had been selling for twenty-five cents an acre in 1903, the year before the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway arrived, was selling for fifty dollars an acre in 1906 and for as much as $300 an acre by 1910.
In 1905, Yoakum purchased the
Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway The Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway was an railroad that ran from Beaumont, Texas to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston. It passed through small southeast Texas communities such as Hull, Kenefick, and Huffman. As part of the Gulf Coast Lin ...
, which connected with the StLB&M at Houston. The next link eastward was the
New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway The New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway was a constituent element of the Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi Rive ...
, construction of which began in 1905 from Anchorage, Louisiana (opposite
Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of 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-sma ...
), to
DeQuincy, Louisiana DeQuincy is the northernmost city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,235 at the 2010 census. DeQuincy is part of the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area. History DeQuincy was founded in 1897 as a railroa ...
, with trackage rights purchased from
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 ...
from DeQuincy to Beaumont. NOT&M trains were ferried across the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
at Baton Rouge until 1947, several years after the Huey P. Long Bridge (carrying a highway and a railroad track) was built in 1940. This segment opened for service on September 1, 1909, with trackage rights via the
Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company 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 border ...
(later acquired by the
Louisiana and Arkansas Railway The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans. Branch lines served Vidalia, Louis ...
) from Baton Rouge to New Orleans; after 1916, GCL trains used trackage rights on the parallel
Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...
route instead. Yoakum's planned extensions of the GCL from Brownsville to
Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...
and
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, as well as from Baton Rouge to
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...
, never materialized. In 1913, the Frisco and the GCL roads fell into bankruptcy, which was terminated in 1916 when Frisco's receivers were ordered by a court to sell the Texas-Louisiana lines. The StLB&M and the BSL&W were acquired by the New Orleans, Texas and Mexico, and operated under the Gulf Coast Lines name after that. On June 30, 1924, the NOT&M bought the International-Great Northern Railroad, and in December of the same year, the Missouri Pacific bought the Gulf Coast Lines and operated it as a subsidiary. In March 1956, all of the GCL lines were merged into the Missouri Pacific system, losing their separate identity. The Missouri Pacific was merged into the
Union Pacific Railroad 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 ...
in 1997.


Secondary lines

Before 1925, the following railroads were also part of the Gulf Coast Lines system who retained their separate legal identities: * San Benito and Rio Grande Valley Railway * Orange and Northwestern Railroad * New Iberia and Northern Railroad * Iberia, St. Mary and Eastern Railroad Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on February 1, 1924: * Houston and Brazos Valley Railway Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on behalf of the
Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...
in 1925 to keep the
Missouri Kansas Texas Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to th ...
from taking control of it, but operated as a separate division from the Gulf Coast Lines until all were merged into the
Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...
on March 1, 1956: * International-Great Northern Railroad After 1925, the following railroads were purchased by the Gulf Coast Lines division of Missouri Pacific, though maintaining their separate legal identities. Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on December 1, 1925: * San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on January 2, 1926: *
Sugar Land Railway Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...
* Asherton and Gulf Railway *
Rio Grande City Railway Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...
Acquired by New Orleans, Texas & Mexico in November 1926: * Asphalt Belt Railway Acquired by New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on January 1, 1927: * San Antonio Southern, formerly the Artesian Belt Railroad Acquired by the Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western on May 1, 1927: * Houston North Shore Railway (electric
interurban railway 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 ...
) The Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western also owned a 25 percent share of the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway; the StLB&M owned a 50 percent share of the Brownsville and Matamoros Bridge Company.


Passenger trains

After 1925, numerous Missouri Pacific passenger trains used the various segments of the Gulf Coast Lines route, which although legally separate entities for tax, tariff, and accounting purposes, were marketed to the public as a seamless continuation of MoPac passenger service. One notable passenger train of the postwar era was the streamlined ''
Valley Eagle The ''Valley Eagle'' was a named Streamliner#Trains, streamliner passenger train of the Missouri Pacific Railroad that began in 1948. It ran from Houston, Texas's Union Station (Houston), Union Station to Brownsville, Texas at the Mexico–United ...
'', introduced on October 31, 1948, which covered the 372 miles between Houston, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville in 8 1/2 hours at an average speed of 44 miles per hour. Two trainsets of five cars each were built by ACF to make the daytime run in both directions. The train was discontinued on July 1, 1962. Also in the postwar era, MoPac's '' Houstonian'' and '' Orleanean'' ran between New Orleans and Houston, covering the 367 miles in nine or ten hours.


References


External links


Histories


The Frisco: A Look Back at the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, Springfield-Greene County (Mo.) Library's online version of a 1962 booklet
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110409011728/http://www.mopac.org/history_mp.asp "MoPac's First 125 Years," Missouri Pacific Historical Societybr>Werner, George C. "St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroad," ''Handbook of Texas Online.'' Published by the Texas State Historical Association.


Photographs, maps, and timetables



* ttp://www.texassantafehistory.com/1923.jpg 1926 map of Santa Fe lines in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, clearly showing the Gulf Coast Lines route as wellbr>1956 timetables for the ''Houstonian'' and ''Orleanean'' at Streamliner Schedules
* ttp://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth28764/ The ''Valley Eagle'' departing Houston Union Station for Brownsville, 1953, at Portal to Texas History


Bibliography

*Allhands, J.L. (1960). ''Railroads To The Rio'', The Anson Jones Press,
Salado, Texas Salado ( ) is a town in Bell County, Texas, United States. Salado was first incorporated in 1867 for the sole purpose of building a bridge across Salado Creek. In 2000, the citizens of Salado voted in favor of reincorporation, before which it was ...
. (No ISBN Number Available) *Morgan, David P. "Kingsville Division," ''Trains'' magazine, June 1949: 16–25. {{DEFAULTSORT:Missouri Pacific Railroad Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad Former Class I railroads in the United States Defunct Louisiana railroads Defunct Texas railroads Railway companies established in 1916 Railway companies disestablished in 1956