The Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern Railroad is a
Class III short-line 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 ...
owned by
Patriot Rail Company
Patriot Rail Company LLC (Patriot Rail) is a holding company for a number of short-line railroad, shortline railroads across the United States.
In June 2012, Patriot Rail was acquired by SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners (SteelRiver).
On August ...
of
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
, with 39.3 miles
of track in southeastern Oklahoma.
It is operated along with its affiliate, the
De Queen and Eastern Railroad
The DeQueen and Eastern Railroad , also referred to as the De Queen and Eastern Railroad, is a Class III short-line railroad located in southwest Arkansas and owned by Patriot Rail Company of Jacksonville, Florida. It is operated along with its ...
, in southwest Arkansas, as a single combined railroad with 91 miles of track.
Specifically, the TOE runs from
Valliant, Oklahoma through
Wright City,
Broken Bow, and
Eagletown to the Oklahoma/Arkansas border, where the DQE continues through
De Queen,
Lockesburg and
Dierks to Perkins, Arkansas.
History
The TOE was chartered October 21, 1910 to build a railroad from Valliant eastward to De Queen, but was quickly acquired by DQE. It was essentially completed by 1921 when it built to the state line, at which point it was shortly joined by DQE’s line.[ From an early date, ownership was held by Dierks Lumber & Coal Company, later Dierks Forests, which used the lines to haul primarily lumber, paper, coal and grain.][ The roads also had minimal passenger operations, but this ended by 1948.][ Dierks Forests and the rail lines were sold to Weyerhaeuser Company in the 1960’s, and Weyerhaeuser sold the rail lines to Patriot Rail in 2010.]
Operations
The TOE/DQE still move timber products, like plywood chips and pulpboard. But they also carry bulk products like corn, stone, soybeans and chemicals.[
The lines interchange with the ]BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...
through the Kiamichi Railroad
The Kiamichi Railroad Company is a Class III short-line railroad headquartered in Hugo, Oklahoma.
KRR operates two lines totaling which intersect in Hugo, as well as maintaining trackage rights on an additional of track. The main line (1 ...
at Valliant; with the Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...
at De Queen; and, with the Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad is a 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 States after BNSF, ...
at Perkins.[ They also interchange with the shortline ]WFEC Railroad Company
WFEC Railroad Company-- reporting mark: WFEC-- is a Class III industrial rail line running 14.98 miles from Western Farmers Electric Cooperative's Hugo Power Plant at Fort Towson, Oklahoma, near Hugo, to an interchange with the Texas, Oklahoma ...
at Valliant.[
Valliant has a maintenance of way equipment repair facility, and an open car repair shed with two tracks under roof with capacity for 4 cars, together with a ready track that will hold 6 cars.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Oklahoma Eastern Railroad
Oklahoma railroads