Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 201
Corporate Name: Beaumont Sour Lake & Western Railroad
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: Beaumont Sour Lake & Western Railroad. Beaumont Sour Lake & Port Arthur Traction Company. Gulf Coast Lines.
Years of Operation: 1903 to current
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length:
Locations Served: Beaumont to Sour Lake Jefferson
Counties of Operation: Many
Line Connections: Beaumont
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment: Two railroad locomotives
History: With R. C. Duff on of the incorporators, this line was chartered on 8 August 1903, the path of the Beaumont Sour Lake & Port Arthur Traction Company following the Texas & New Orleans from Houston to Orange. The name was changed to the Beaumont Sour Lake & Western Railroad in 1904. Originally part of the St Louis & San Francisco lines, Benjamin F. Yoakum bought the line in 1905 and made it part of the Gulf Coast lines operating from Brownsville via Houston to New Orleans. The Beaumont Sour Lake & Western Railroad became independent in 1914 and joined the Missouri Pacific network in 1925, from which it operated separately until merged in March 1956. Strapac's work notes that it had at least two locomotives, a Grant and a Schenectady. The charter was discontinued on 21 March 1910. Keeling lists two rod locomotives operated on the Beaumont Sour Lake and Western Railway.