The Texas Transportation Company was an electrified, Class III,

short-line 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 oper ...

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, that operated from 1897 until 2001. It served the Pearl Brewery and several other businesses, moving carloads between those businesses and the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

yard. Service ended on June 30, 2000, shortly before the

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over ...

closed the Pearl Brewery, in early 2001.

History

The Texas Transportation Company was founded in 1887 as a private company. It was chartered on September 24, 1897. It served more than 20 customers at its peak, including the Lone Star Brewing Company and the Pearl Brewery. Gross annual operating revenue in 1956 was $80,000. It was designated a Common Carrier in 1932. By 1990, the line was one of only three "trolley freight" railroads still in operation in the United States, along with Iowa Traction Railroad and the

East Troy Electric Railroad The East Troy Electric Railroad is an interurban Heritage railway, heritage railroad owned and operated by the East Troy Railroad Museum. Passenger excursions run on a stretch of track from East Troy, Wisconsin, East Troy to Mukwonago, Wiscons ...

, but by that time, the Pearl Brewery was its sole remaining regular customer. Another customer, Samuel's Glass Company, called on TXTC to move a load of finished plate glass from its spur on Newell Street only "once in a great while". The railroad was operating on Mondays to Fridays as of 1990, with runs taking place at 6 a.m., 10 a.m. and, if needed, 2 p.m. The line included street running along Jones Street.

Locomotives

The railroad's first two locomotives were boxcabs that were "probably" built by the

St. Louis Car Company The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, interurbans, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887 to 1974, based in St. Louis, Missouri. History The St. Louis Car Company ...

. They were numbered 1 and 2, but TXTC reused those numbers more than once for locomotives acquired later, including for rolling stock acquired secondhand from the San Antonio Public Service Company (streetcar system) and converted to haul freight cars. The two locomotives in use in the railroad's final years were again numbered 1 and 2. *No. 1 was a 60-ton short-nosed steeplecab engine built in 1917 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and acquired secondhand by TXTC in 1954. It had previously been No. 504 of the

Kansas City, Kaw Valley and Western Railway The Kansas City, Kaw Valley and Western Railway Railway Equipment and Publication Company, The Official Railway Equipment Register', June 1917, p. 843 was an interurban electric railway that ran between the American cities of Lawrence, Kansas, and K ...

and, before that, Monongahela and West Penn Public Service Company No. 3002. *No. 2 was built in 1907 by the

, and TXTC acquired it in 1949 from the

Texas Electric Railway The Texas Electric Railway is a historic interurban railroad that operated from Dallas, Texas, to Denison, Corsicana, and Waco. It began operation in 1908 and through the merger of several companies became the largest interurban railway operator ...

. It was originally Texas Traction Company

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 ...

car 4, becoming Texas Electric's No. 351 in 1917 and being rebuilt by TE in 1929 into a 35-ton locomotive, numbered 952. TXTC's No. 1 was overhauled in the 1960s, and as of 1990 it was the railroad's main locomotive, with No. 2 being "used only occasionally".

Museum streetcar

From 1982 through 1985, a short section of TXTC track was used for a

heritage streetcar Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles. Trains It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP ...

service operated by the

San Antonio Museum of Art The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is an art museum in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. The museum spans 5,000 years of global culture. The museum is housed in the historic former Lone Star Brewery (1886) on the Museum Reach of the San Antonio ...

. The service used original San Antonio

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

No. 300, built in 1913 by the American Car Company and owned by the San Antonio Museums Association ever since the abandonment of the city's last streetcar lines in 1933. The new Art Museum was opened in 1981 in the former Lone Star Brewery complex, which had been one of TXTC's customers. The railroad's tracks still ran past the site, and the overhead trolley wires came close. In 1981–82, volunteers restored the streetcar, nicknamed "Old 300", to operating condition and reinstalled trolley wire on a TXTC spur behind the museum, unused since the 1950s. The city's former streetcar system had been so car 300 had to be modified for TXTC's tracks; this was accomplished by refitting the car with modified ex-New Orleans

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

and using some parts from similar car 303.Price, J. H. (December 1984). "Museum News". ''

Modern Tramway Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosoph ...

'', p. 421. UK:

Ian Allan Publishing Ian Allan Publishing was an English publisher, established in 1942, which specialised in transport books. It was founded by Ian Allan. In 1942 Ian Allan, then working in the public relations department for the Southern Railway at Waterloo st ...

/ Light Rail Transit Association. The museum's short streetcar line began operating in October 1982. The car ran twice a day on Tuesdays through Fridays and six times a day on weekends, but budget cuts and high insurance costs led to the service's being discontinued at the end of 1985.

References

External links

Don's Rail Photos: Texas Transportation Company
- Complete history of the brewery's electric rail line. {{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Transportation Company Defunct Texas railroads Streetcars in Texas Transportation in San Antonio

History

Locomotives

Museum streetcar

See also

References

External links