The Gulf Coast Lines was the name of a railroad system comprising three principal railroads, as well as some smaller ones, that stretched from New Orleans, Louisiana , via Baton Rouge and Houston to Brownsville, Texas . Originally chartered as subsidiaries of the Frisco Railroad , the system became independent in 1916 and was purchased by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1925.
19-655: The parent company of the independent Gulf Coast Lines was the New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway , incorporated in Louisiana on February 28, 1916, which bought the property and assets of the Frisco-owned New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railroad . The NOT&M was headquartered in New Orleans, and owned or leased a number of other railroads in Louisiana and Texas, operating them all together as
38-689: 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 Company, and
57-616: 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
76-747: A separate division from the Gulf Coast Lines until all were merged into the Missouri Pacific on March 1, 1956: After 1925, the following railroads were purchased by the Gulf Coast Lines division of Missouri Pacific, though maintaining their separate legal identities. Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on December 1, 1925: Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on January 2, 1926: Acquired by New Orleans, Texas & Mexico in November 1926: Acquired by New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on January 1, 1927: Acquired by
95-595: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . International-Great Northern Railroad The International – Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) was a railroad that operated in the U.S. state of Texas . 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,
114-588: The Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway , which connected with the StLB&;M at Houston. The next link eastward was the New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway , construction of which began in 1905 from Anchorage, Louisiana (opposite Baton Rouge ), to DeQuincy, Louisiana , with trackage rights purchased from Kansas City Southern Railway from DeQuincy to Beaumont. NOT&M trains were ferried across
133-661: The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge until 1947, several years after the Huey P. Long Bridge (carrying a highway and a railroad track) was built in 1940. This segment opened for service on September 1, 1909, with trackage rights via the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company (later acquired by the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway ) from Baton Rouge to New Orleans; after 1916, GCL trains used trackage rights on
152-647: The Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western on May 1, 1927: The Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western also owned a 25 percent share of the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway ; the StLB&M owned a 50 percent share of the Brownsville and Matamoros Bridge Company . After 1925, numerous Missouri Pacific passenger trains used the various segments of the Gulf Coast Lines route, which although legally separate entities for tax, tariff, and accounting purposes, were marketed to
171-557: The GCL was the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway . Construction was done by the B.F. & P.M. Johnson Co. of St. Elmo, Illinois , which began in 1903 from Robstown, Texas (near Corpus Christi ) to Brownsville, Texas . The line was opened for business on July 4, 1904. By the end of 1907, the StLB&M was extended to Houston , with trackage rights via the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad between Algoa and Houston. The railroad
190-592: The Gulf Coast Lines. As of December 31, 1916, the total trackage operated by the Gulf Coast Lines system was 1,013 miles (1,630 km), including branches, sidings, trackage rights, and leased lines. According to a corporate history published in the 1950s by the Missouri Pacific Railroad , The Gulf Coast Lines was projected originally by B. F. Yoakum , chairman of the board of the Rock Island and Frisco Lines. Yoakum's plan envisioned using
209-621: The I&;GN in December 1880. Due to his control of the Missouri Pacific (Mopac) and the Texas and Pacific Railroad , 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 I-GN entered receivership in 1908 and was sold at foreclosure to
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#1732772064037228-615: The I&GN operated 177 miles (285 km) of track from Hearne to Longview , but at its peak it owned 1,106 miles (1,780 km) of track. As the railroad expanded southwestward from Hearne, it reached Rockdale in 1874 and Austin on December 28, 1876. The line extended to San Antonio 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 on several occasions. Industrialist Jay Gould acquired control of
247-579: The New Orleans, Texas and Mexico, and operated under the Gulf Coast Lines name after that. On June 30, 1924, the NOT&;M bought the International-Great Northern Railroad , and in December of the same year, the Missouri Pacific bought the Gulf Coast Lines and operated it as a subsidiary. In March 1956, all of the GCL lines were merged into the Missouri Pacific system, losing their separate identity. The Missouri Pacific
266-461: The Rock Island and Frisco, together with.several railroads to be built in Texas and Louisiana and now known as the Gulf Coast Lines, to form a continuous line of railroad extending from Chicago, St. Louis and Memphis to Baton Rouge, Houston, Brownsville, Tampico and Mexico City. The Frisco and Rock Island were conjoined under his leadership in 1905 and known as the "Yoakum Line." The first section of
285-597: The parallel Illinois Central route instead. Yoakum's planned extensions of the GCL from Brownsville to Tampico and Mexico City , as well as from Baton Rouge to Memphis , never materialized. In 1913, the Frisco and the GCL roads fell into bankruptcy, which was terminated in 1916 when Frisco's receivers were ordered by a court to sell the Texas-Louisiana lines. The StLB&M and the BSL&;W were acquired by
304-440: The public as a seamless continuation of MoPac passenger service. One notable passenger train of the postwar era was the streamlined Valley Eagle , introduced on October 31, 1948, which covered the 372 miles between Houston, Corpus Christi, and Brownsville in 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours at an average speed of 44 miles per hour. Two trainsets of five cars each were built by ACF to make the daytime run in both directions. The train
323-401: Was discontinued on July 1, 1962. Also in the postwar era, MoPac's Houstonian and Orleanean ran between New Orleans and Houston, covering the 367 miles in nine or ten hours. New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway The New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway was a constituent element of the Missouri Pacific Railroad . This United States railway company-related article
342-574: Was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad in 1997. Before 1925, the following railroads were also part of the Gulf Coast Lines system who retained their separate legal identities: Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on February 1, 1924: Acquired by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico on behalf of the Missouri Pacific in 1925 to keep the Missouri Kansas Texas from taking control of it, but operated as
361-723: Was the first to reach the Rio Grande Valley , where it had a great effect on the region. According to the Handbook of Texas Online , The coming of the railroad and irrigation made the Valley into a major agricultural center. In Hidalgo County, land that had been selling for twenty-five cents an acre in 1903, the year before the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway arrived, was selling for fifty dollars an acre in 1906 and for as much as $ 300 an acre by 1910. In 1905, Yoakum purchased
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