The Groveton, Lufkin and Northern Railway (GL&N) was a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

U.S.

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

located in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

. Originally chartered on May 15, 1908, as the Texas Northern Railway Company, it changed its name on August 17, 1908. On December 1, 1908, the GL&N purchased the private

logging railroad A forest railway, forest tram, timber line, logging railway or logging railroad is a mode of railway transport which is used for forestry tasks, primarily the transportation of felled logs to sawmills or railway stations. In most cases this f ...

between Groveton and

Vair Vair (; from Latin ''varius'' "variegated"), originating as a processed form of squirrel fur, gave its name to a set of different patterns used in heraldry. Heraldic vair represents a kind of fur common in the Middle Ages, made from pieces o ...

from the Trinity County Lumber Company, its corporate parent; the rail line had been built in 1900 by lumber company owner James Stanley Joyce to serve the company sawmill near Groveton. The sawmill, one of the largest in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

, was the predominant local employer. The GL&N upgraded the railroad in 1909 and obtained operating rights on the Texas South-Eastern Railroad from Vair to

Lufkin Lufkin is the largest city in Angelina County, Texas, United States and is the county seat. The city is situated in Deep East Texas and is west of the Texas- Louisiana state line. Its population is 34,143 as of 2020. Lufkin was founded in 188 ...

. In 1926, the GL&N reported owning three locomotives and 104 cars, with passenger earnings of $8,000 () and freight earnings of $233,000 . At Groveton, the GL&N interchanged with a

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway which later became independent as the

Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway The Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway (WBT&S) was a standard gauge U.S. shortline railroad located in East Texas. The company was formed from two earlier shortlines that interchanged in Trinity, Texas, and had come under the control of th ...

(WBT&S). By the late 1920s, timber in the area had become badly depleted. The Trinity County Lumber Company was able to maintain operations longer than other local lumber companies, but finally capitulated and shut down the sawmill at midnight on December 31, 1930. In 1931, the sawmill was dismantled, the population of Groveton plummeted from around 4,000 to 1,046, and GL&N revenue drastically fell. The GL&N was abandoned sometime between 1931 and 1934.

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External links

Texas State Historical Association
Defunct Texas railroads Railway companies established in 1908 {{Texas-transport-stub