x

All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm

COWCATCHER MAGAZINE

Texas State Railroad announces 2017 schedule with special runs in March and April

February 9, 2017

News

This story has been updated from a previous post.

The Texas State Railroad appears to be on track.

In late January, the tourist railroad announced via email that ticket sales were underway for excursions in 2017. The “Dogwood Special Brunch Train” was announced for April 2, followed by “Piney Woods Excursions” on April 28-29. In February, a Sunday run was scheduled for March 26, and other excursions are planned for the rest of the year, according to TSR’s website.

In December, an email announcing layoffs and the railroad’s closure from TSR’s former marketing manager, Janet Gregg, was distributed, but operators quickly refuted it. Ed Ellis, president of Iowa Pacific Holdings, the railroad’s operator, sent an email saying the message was unauthorized and TSR was only being idled in January and February.

The Texas State Railroad is idling operations in January and February and plans to resume runs in March. – Cowcatcher Magazine

“Texas State Railroad is operating normally, which means there are no excursion trains in January or February,” Ellis said. “Excursion train operations will resume in March. In order to manage costs, headcount has been reduced for that period.”

Gregg told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that employees were told the railroad was closing.

Steve Gregory, Iowa Pacific’s executive vice president of marketing, said the layoffs are seasonal and the closure is not permanent.

“There have been layoffs,” he said. “We have had seasonal layoffs in the past. We were closed last January and February, and we’ll be running trains in March.”

IPH has operated TSR in a public-private partnership with the Texas State Railroad Authority (TSRA) since 2012.

In December, TSRA President Bob Goldsberry said the railroad typically shuts down for maintenance the first two months of the year. He spoke with Ellis and said he was assured that TSR will run its full 2017 schedule.

He said TSRA will work to get the employees reinstated.

“My thoughts and prayers are with those folks who were given notice,” he said. “As president of the Authority, we’re going to do everything in our power to get them back on the payroll and the railroad running as it should.”

The news followed a record ridership year, according to Gregg. She said TSR’s annual holiday excursion, the Polar Express, had the most riders ever and that overall ridership reached new levels in 2016. She indicated that the railroad’s operations are in good health.

“This is very disappointing, especially in light of the fact that we set a new record for ridership this year with both Polar Express and regular-season riders,” she said in her email. “The Texas State Railroad has been financially viable the past two years, so this is not a local issue.”

With ridership levels peaking, the 135-year-old railroad appears to have gotten back on track after years of financial struggles. The railroad, originally built by the Texas state prison system to transport hardwood used to fuel furnaces at the Rusk Penitentiary, has had two operators since the state shut it down in 2008 over mounting financial losses.

American Heritage Railways signed on as an operator in 2009 and was close to making a profit by 2012. A major fuel spill on the TSR grounds in 2011 proved costly, and the following year AHR sold the line to IPH.

IPH soon expanded operations to include freight, and ridership on excursion trains climbed.

In 1921, regular rail service was discontinued and the line was leased to the Texas & New Orleans (Southern Pacific Railroad Co.). The Texas Southeastern Railroad leased the line in the early 1960s and continued operations until 1969. Three years later, TSR was conveyed to the state, which reopened it in 1976 as a passenger line.

Current Issue: Sept/Oct 2025

$6.95 (U.S. Orders Only)

Sprucing Up

It’s easy to not see the forest for the trees on a model railroad, so the Colorado Model Railroad Museum won’t mind if visitors focus closely on the towering firs and glowing aspens on the Oregon, California & Eastern Railroad. A panoramic scan is most appropriate now that many of the 28,000 trees are getting a makeover. One of the country’s top model railroad museums, CMRM is refreshing scenery along its Pacific Northwest-based signature HO-scale layout with laborious help from staff and volunteers. For the past year, trees, ground cover and other scenery have been cleaned or replaced on the 15-year-old masterpiece inspired by museum founder David Trussell.

Railroad Structures

Freight stations and engine service facilities are the most common assets for railroads, and Gene Mangum's HO-scale Mystic Branch is no exception. In the first of a two-part series, Mangum details the many railroad-owned structures on the layout.

Seamless Railroad

Two years after Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern became North America’s first continuous north-south railroad, Union Pacific Railroad Co. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. are working to stitch a seamless east-west transcontinental railroad. Leaders from UP and NS say a seamless railroad devoid of interchanges creates valuable synergies for shippers and the Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad.

Plus

Pat Hiatte takes a ride from Chicago to Milwaukee on the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railway's Electroliner. Plus, Kadee Quality Products follows its successful run of the Nickel Plate Road AAR 50-ton flatcar with an undecorated model - see the review. Also, construction on BNSF's bridge over the Missouri River near Bismarck-Mandan, ND, is nearing the halfway point. And more!