The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 285
xvi, 340 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The First Texas Railroad.
285
adopted a different gauge, and hundreds of miles of road had to be .
-changed at an enormous expense.
The first passenger coaches used on this road were no doubt z
made for street cars, and probably employed as such in Boston, be-
fore they were brought to Texas. They would seat about twenty
passengers each, and were mounted on four wheels. They were \
used but a short time, as it was difficult to keep them on the track.
'The last use I remember that was made of one of them was at
Eagle Lake in the winter of 1859-1860. The car was placed at
-one end of the warehouse and used for an office and bedroom by ,
the agent and the clerk. Michael Quin was the agent, and the
writer hereof was the clerk. The roof leaked like a sieve, and the \
,car had no heating arrangement; but by the use of tarpaulins to
cover the top of it, and a ten gallon pot, confiscated out of the
freight of some one, in which to build a fire, we managed to get
.along.
No telegraph line that could be used was constructed by the \
road until 1868. Prior to that date, tw.o mixed trains, one each
way, usually did the business. They had a leaving time and a -
meeting time and place; but beyond these they had little use for
a schediiul. When either train failed to reach the meeting point
,on time, they met at the nearest turnout or switch. This oc-
curred very frequently. The writer served as conductor of one of
the trains during the years 1866 and 1867; and he remembers ;f
meeting and passing, on one occasion, two trains of ten or fifteen
cars each on a spur switch that would hold only an engine and one
,car.
The general office and shops were located at Harrisburg until \
railroad connection was made between Houston and New Orleans,
but since that time Harrisburg has been virtually abandoned in "
favor of Houston. The offices and shops were moved, and the Har- a
risburg lands that played such an important part in starting and
building the road were put on the market and sold for what they
would bring. So the owners of the town of Harrisburg, after all
their efforts and sacrifice, lost the road and their lands as well.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904, periodical, 1904; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101030/m1/293/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.