Went on a nice excursion yesterday threw the Piney Woods of East Texas .
since 1896 , trains have moved across the Texas State Railroad . It was built by prisoners in 1881 with the intent to service the smelting plant inside the Texas State Prison in Rusk . The Railroad was built to ship in raw material from the area's rich iron ore deposits and ship out finished goods made within the prison. The railroad's track crew maintains more than 25 mile of track and 24 bridges. The Texas State Railroad is one of the only steam railroads in the United states to run 2 steam trains simultaneously on days of operation .
Equipment
five steam locomotives, including No.201, a 4-6-0 built in 1901 by A.L. Cooke & No.400, a 2-8-2 built in 1917 by Baldwin . 4 diesel engines built between 1944 and 1956 Alco Thanks Mark F
Mark, I have head of this railroad and plan to visit it on our way to the Southwest this Spring. I think I have seen a couple videos on YouTube...you might want to check that out. Thanks for the information.
Ray
I'm so glad the state managed to sell it to American Heritage (the people who own the Durango & Silverton, etc.)
Just a couple years ago, the plan was for the railroad to be turned into a static display due to a lack of funding.