The International – Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

that operated in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. It was created on September 30, 1873, when the International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad merged. The railroad was officially incorporated as the International & Great Northern Railroad Company. At its start, the I&GN operated of track from Hearne to Longview, but at its peak it owned of track. As the railroad expanded southwestward from Hearne, it reached Rockdale in 1874 and

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

on December 28, 1876. The line extended to

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

in 1880 and finally to the US-Mexican border town of Laredo on December 1, 1881. The I&GN, like other railroads of its time, had many financial troubles and went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

on several occasions. Industrialist

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

acquired control of the I&GN in December 1880. Due to his control 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 ...

(Mopac) and the

Texas and Pacific Railroad The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went we ...

, the three were operated as one system, although they retained their separate corporate identities and seniority districts for union workers. Due to financial difficulties, stemming in part from the

Panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange suddenly fell almost ...

, the I-GN entered

in 1908 and was sold at

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

to a reorganized company, the International & Great Northern Railway Company on August 31, 1911. Less than four years later, the company entered receivership again, which lasted until it was sold at foreclosure in July 1922. The International–Great Northern Railroad was incorporated by the state of Texas on August 17, 1922, and fully took over operation of the International & Great Northern Railway on December 31, 1922. In a bit of planned corporate maneuvering to keep the I-GN within the Mopac fold, the Gulf Coast Lines subsidiary, New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway, bought the I-GN on June 30, 1924; subsequently, the Gulf Coast Lines were bought by the Missouri Pacific on January 1, 1925. Finally, on March 1, 1956, all of the GCL subsidiaries were merged into the parent

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 o ...

Company, and the I-GN ceased its corporate existence. In the 1960s, many of the redundant out-of-the-way lines were abandoned, including

Waco Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making i ...

Marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes between 9 and 11 species, depending on the taxonomic authority. Name The family's common name is thought to derive from their resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike. Taxonomy T ...

and

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Navasota Navasota is a city primarily in Grimes County, Texas, Grimes County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,643 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. In 2005, the Texas Legislature designated Navasota as the "Blues Capital of Texas ...

. The latter route was subsequently traversed via

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

over the Southern Pacific Railroad between the same two points. The Missouri Pacific was merged in 1997 into the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:International Great Northern Railroad Defunct Texas railroads Predecessors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1922 Railway companies disestablished in 1956

See also

References

External links