| Equipment: | 1910: Twelve miles of tracks, spurs, and sidings. Equipment included three Baldwin locomotives, respectively of thirty-five tons, eighteen tons, and fourteen tons; a log skidder; sixty to seventy log cars, caboose, passenger coach.
Keeling: two rod locomotives over twelve miles |
| History: | St. Clair Reed in History of Texas Railroads notes that the Riverside & Gulf Railway, owned by Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, with headquarters at Milvid, was incorporated on April 30, 1907. The intent was to build a line from Wallisville on Galveston Bay to Livingston, county seat of Polk County. By 1910, the railway had about twelve miles of tracks, spurs, and sidings, with another sixteen miles planned. The line connected with the Santa Fe at Milvid. Three spurs of one to one and a half to two miles each already were built. The intent was to connect to a landing spot on the Trinity River, where logs could be picked up from lografts placed upriver. The final mileage was intended to be 28.62 miles.
Equipment included three Baldwin locomotives, respectively thirty-five tons, eighteen toms, and fourteen tons; a log skidder; sixty to seventy log cars from 28' to 35', a caboose, and a passenger coach. Fifty-two employees were directly involved in railway operations: they consisted of a station agent, six train crews, and several shopmen and trackmen. Administrative offices were at the Galveston, Beaumont & Northeastern shops at Beaumont, but the machine shop was located at Milvid.
The hardwood sawmill of T. B. Allen & Co, a 50,000 daily capacity operation, was located about one mile south of Milvid Junction. The Allen mill had trackage rights on the Riverside & Gulf, guaranteed by the president of Miller-Vidor. In 1910, the Riverside & Gulf hauled 26,565 tons of lumber and 131,880 tons of logs for Miller-Vidor, and 6,214 tons of hardwood lumber for T. B. Allen, and approximately 1,500 tons of other freight, almost exclusively for Miller- Vidor.
Union Lumber Company purchased the Milvid operation in 1913 and quickly disappeared. West Lumber Company ran a sawmill site at Milvid from 1915 to about 1928. That year it the Southern Lumberman reported that it had fifteen miles of tramroads. Since Milvid existed soley for harvesting, milling, and shipping lumber, the conclusion must be that West Lumber was running the tramroad until it ceased milling operations before 1930. |