Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 145
Corporate Name: Texas-Southeastern R. R. Company
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: Southern Pine Lumber Company. Temple Lumber Company. Temple-Eastex, Inc. Temple Inland Forest Products, Inc.
Years of Operation: ca. 1897 to 1994
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length: 7 to 90
Locations Served: Diboll (Angelina)
Counties of Operation: Angelina, Cherokee, Houston, Trinity, etc.
Line Connections:
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment: 1897: seven miles of narrow-gauge tracks, steam locomotives. 1906: fifty miles of standard-gauge tracks, six locomotives, 136 cars. 1910: four locomotives, one caboose, one combination passenger and baggage car, ten box cars, and eighty-four freight cars. Keeling: three geared and twenty-one rod locomotives
History: The Texas-Southeastern R. R. Company, still active in 1994 and in the inventory of Temple Inland, exemplifies the development of East Texas railroad logging. The tram's genesis began when W. N. Atwood, an Angelina County logger, built a narrow-gauge, seven-mile tram road about 1897. The line was bought by Southern Pine Lumber Company about 1898 to harvest its timberland east of its mill at Diboll. The company used a combination of animal-powered skidding and steam locomotives to collect and transport the logs. The tram road was incorporated as the Texas Southeastern R. R. Company in 1900 by the Southern Pine Lumber Company with the right to participate in interstate interest rates. The Texas Railroad Commission did not recognize the railroad's common carrier status until 1909. The railroad was reincorporated in 1931 as the Texas-Southeastern R. R. Company, merely adding an hyphen to the name. The tapline and its tram road rolling stock increased greatly during the time it took clear the company's eastern Angelina County pineries. The American Lumberman, in 1906, noted that the Texas Southeastern had fifty miles of standard gauge tracks, six locomotives, 136 cars, and two steam loaders. Forty-three miles additionally were being built. W. J. Raef served as general manger. In 1908, the railway's route had changed to the northwest, running from Diboll to Weches, Houston County, where the International & Great Northern was based. Log recovery was still transitional, using both eight-wheel wagons, slip-tongue high-wheel carts, and steam-powered skidders to bring logs to the tram tracks. Horses returned the steam skidder's cables to the woods, whence developed the term “Horse Skidder. “ A company logging camp was located at Alcedo, on the Neches River, then later moved inland, according to Bowman. New lines ran from Blix, another logging camp, to Lufkin, ten miles to the northeast, connecting the Southern Pine Lumber shortline with the Houston East & West Texas and the St. Louis Southwestern . Another route was built from Vair, still another logging camp, eleven miles northwest of Diboll, south to Everest, in San Jacinto County, intersecting the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway at or near Groveton. The Interstate Commerce Commission's Tap-Line report revealed that the Texas Southeastern was used overwhelming on behalf of its parent company. In 1910, the railway had rolling stock of four locomotives, one caboose, one combination passenger and baggage car, ten box cars, and eighty-four freight cars. Passenger travel was available once daily in either direction on a combination-package train of passenger cars and company freight cars. Of almost 61,000 tons of freight moved in 1910, more than 58,000 tons belonged to Southern Pine Lumber Company. Of almost $100,000 in total revenue, less than $3,000 came from passenger service. Change came quickly after 1920. The “Horse Skidder” was last used in 1928 in logging operations. Logging trucks became part of the inventory by 1934. In 1942, Diboll operations purchased its first crawler tractor for skidding operations. By 1962, all logging operations had been contracted out. The Gulf Coast Lumberman reported in 1964 that the railway owned 22 1/2 miles of track outright and leased another 33 1/2 from Rusk to Palestine. In 1978, the Texas South-Eastern had eighteen miles of active track.