Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code: 55
Corporate Name: DeKalb & Red River Railway Company
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership: DeKalb Lumber Company. T. L. L. Temple of the Southern Pine Lumber Company
Years of Operation: 1891 to 1898 or 1899
Track Type:
Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length: Eleven or twelve
Locations Served: DeKalb to Maysville (Marysville)
Counties of Operation: Bowie
Line Connections: Texas & Pacific at DeKalb
Track Information:
Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment: One locomotive in 1899
History: Reed reports that the railway company received a charter in November 1891 to operate as a common carrier railroad. It had been operating as a tram road from DeKalb to Lennox, Texas, with a branch to Mooresville, in Bowie County, from De Kalb. The Railroad Commission of Texas recognized the railway company as a common carrier in 1891. In 1894, the trackage was extended to Maysville (Zlatkovich notes the name as “Marysville”), making more than twelve miles of railroad trackage. Reed believes that railway operations ceased in 1898 because it was no longer profitable. Zlatkovich reports that the 11.47 mile road from De Kalb to Marysville was abandoned in 1899. The American Lumberman noted in April 1899 that the DeKalb Lumber Company at DeKalb with its mill, railroad and locomotive was purchased by T. L. L. Temple of Southern Pine Lumber Company.