| Equipment: | 1904: ten miles tracks, two locomotives, 33 logging cars. 1906: logging tramseven miles of standard gauge railroad, two locomotives, and two steam loaders. Shortlinefifteen miles of standard gauge line, four locomotives, forty-three cars. 1912: seventeen miles tracks, two locomotives, a passenger car, eight freight cars, and 54 logging cars.
Keeling: seven geared and twelve rod locomotives on thirty-five miles of track of the Nacogdoches and Southeastern, and two rod locomotives for the E. L. Haywood Lumber Company. |
| History: | The Nacogdoches & Southeastern Railroad was incorporated in 1904 or 1905 (Zlatkovich and Reed differ), and the stock was in the possession of the parent lumber company, first Hayward Lumber Company, then Frost-Johnson. Ten miles of track had been completed by 1904, because a grade already in place, belonging to the Louisiana East and Central Texas Railway Company, formerly the Red River, Sabine, & Western Railway, was donated to Hayward Lumber by its stockholders, most of whom lived in Nacogdoches. Operations were managed, reported the American Lumberman in 1904, with two locomotives and thirty-three logging cars. The terminus was Hayward, a mile southeast of Nacogdoches, where it connected with the Texas & New Orleans. By 1911, the railroad reached southeastward to Woden, about twelve miles. Company logging camps on the Attoyac River included Worth and Pershing.
By 1906, noted the American Lumberman, the Hayward Lumber Company was keeping separate the rolling stock of the tapline from the logging operation. The logging tram stock included seven miles of standard gauge railroad, two locomotives, and two steam loaders. That of the shortline included fifteen miles of standard gauge line, four locomotives, forty-three cars. M. C. Bay was the general manager. Some of the grading of the road bed was contracted by M. Peterson in 1908, from Station 856 to Station 1010.
The railroad undoubtedly was being run for the express purpose of serving the needs of Hayward Lumber, then Frost-Johnson. For example, in 1910, although Frost-Johnson did carry the lumber of one small mill about ten miles along its tapline, more than ninety percent of the lumber hauled that year belonged to Frost-Johnson. Passenger revenues for the year came to $322. In 1912, a spur was built a mile to the west to Nacogdoches, where it linked with the Houston East & West Texas. By 1912, the company had about seventeen miles of track, including sidings; and two locomotives, a passenger car, eight freight cars, and fifty-four logging cars. The logging tram itself had about fifteen miles of unincorporated spurs, on which operated two locomotives, one owned by the lumber company and one leased from Nacogdoches & Southeastern. Ten miles of track were completed and under operation by November of same year. Eventually, according to W. T. Block, the railway extended forty-two miles to Calgary in San Augustine, where it connected with the Santa Fe.
By 1941, only fourteen miles of the forty-two of track belonged to the railroad; the remainder belonged to Frost Lumber. The Frost commissary and office at its logging front, Camp Worth, fifteen miles northwest of San Augustine, were lost to fire in September, 1948, according to The Gulf Coast Lumberman.
Beginning in 1951, Frost Lumber began remodeling its mill and tram operation. More than twenty-eight miles of tracks were picked up, and two shay and two rod engines and 104 logging cars put on the shelf. A gasoline engine was retained for switching purposes. The final two miles of rail line from Nacogdoches to Hayward was abandoned on July 17, 1954. |