Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 314
Corporate Name: Timpson & Northwestern, Railway; later the Timpson & Henderson Railway
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: Officers of the Ragley Lumber Company owned sity-one percent of the stock.
Years of Operation: 1900-1926.
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length: Ca. 34
Locations Served: Ragley Panola
Counties of Operation: Shelby, Panola, and Rusk.
Line Connections:
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment:
History: The Ragley mill had connections with theTexas & New Orleans and the Houston East & West Texas at Timpson and with the International & Great Northern at Henderson over its own railroad, theTimpson & Northwestern, later the Timpson & Henderson Railway. It operated trackage of thirty-four miles in Panola, Shelby, and Rusk counties, from Timpson to Henderson. The original trackage built by Ragley was for logging tram purposes. Eight miles of it were incorporated in 1901 under the name of the Timpson & Northwestern Railway with a request to the Railroad Commission of Texas for common carrier status. It received such recognition in 1901, lost it in 1902, and regained in 1903. In 1906, the American Lumberman reported that the railway ahd fourteen miles of tracks, three locomotives, forty-one cars, and one steam loader. Three additional miles were under construction. In 1904, Ragley Lumber Company bought three more miles of steel rails from R. A. Trabue for the $4,000. William Byrne was the purchasing agent. In 1909, it was reorganized under the name of the Timpson & Henderson Railway. Sixty percent of its stock was held by the owners of the Ragley Lumber Company. The two companies had the same officers. In 1910, the I. C. C. reported that the railway handled 1,029 cars of lumber, on which 523, the majority, belonged to other interests. It received a hefty $11,000 in passenger revenue from the operations of its daily train from and to Henderson and Timpson, and carried more than 15,000 tons of grain, grain products, fertililzer, and cotton. According to Reed, for more than twenty-five years, its almost sole reason for existenc was to provide rail transportation for logging done from its spurs. By 1925, almost all of the timber had been cut out. The railway was abandoned the following year. Zlatkovich, however, reports that the line had been abandoned in 1923. Keeling reported that the road possessed three rod locomitves working thirty-four miles of track.