Texas and Northern Railway Alcos as seen at Lone Star Steel, Texas, 1977.
(Image courtesy:https://transpressnz.blogspot.com/2019/12/early-1950s-alco-switchers-on-texas-and.html)
TEXAS AND NORTHERN RAILWAY
The Texas and Northern Railway (reporting mark TN) is an eight-mile (13 km) railroad connecting Lone Star, Texas, to the former Louisiana and Arkansas Railway at Veals Switch between Daingerfield and Hughes Springs.
In the 1950's, the company did enough business (over $1 million USD annually) to qualify as a Class I railroad.
A number of branches have been removed over the years as mining of ore is no longer done. The blast furnace was shut down in the 1980s as well as the ore smelter. Only the electric blast furnace and the pipe rolling mill are still in operation along with warehouse facilities. Operations have been cut back, and since Lone Star was purchased by U.S. Steel, the railroad is managed under that company's railroad division, Transtar, Inc. Traffic consists of outbound pipe, and inbound scrap steel and alloy steel ingots. For years the railroad bought secondhand ALCO Diesels locomotives and heavily modified them for their and the steel mill railroad operations.
Porky Pig
The railroad's original logo featured Warner Bros. cartoon character "Porky Pig" and was known as the "Pig Iron Route"
Texas & Northern map.
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Overview
Headquarters: Lone Star, TX
Reporting mark: TN
Locale: Lone Star, TX
Dates of operation: 1948–present
Technical
Track gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
