I've decided to use the logo of the Paris & Mt. Pleasant RR as an avatar for a while. For those of you who've never heard of it, the P&MtP (or Pa & Ma) was built to operate between these two northeastern Texas communities, serving agricultural and industrial interests in between as well. It interchanged with the Texas Midland, Texas & Pacific, Santa Fe & Frisco in Paris, and the Cotton Belt in Mt. Pleasant. For a short time (1910-1912) it also interchanged with the short-lived Oklahoma, Red River & Texas at Deport, TX (Ironically, this dirt-track railroad never went any farther north than Blossom, TX, 11 miles north, and was laid directly on the blackland prairie soil). None of the P&MtP track is in existence, but you can follow the righ-of-way along US 271 from Pattonville (6 miles southeast of Paris) to the Sulphur River. One locomotive, 4-6-0 316, is still around, and can be found on the Texas State Railroad at Rusk- it's an ex-T&P steamer that went to the P&MtP, and wears TSR 201 on the new line. Ironically, the only diesel that ever operated on this railroad was the center-cab Whitcomb that pulled the scrap train in 1956. P&MtP was an all-steam operation, with 3 gas-electric homebuilds used in passenger service. The steamers used on the line were all either 2-6-0s and 4-6-0s, in deference to the light rail and rough track. If you can find one, Volume 3, Number 1 of the Journal of Texas Shortline Railroads (out of business now) has the skinny on the Paris & Mt. Pleasant, as well as the flatbottomed steamboats that used to run up the Red River as far north as Denison, TX until 1873.
I'd never heard of this railroad, until about two years ago. A friend who collects railroadiana came over for a visit. And he was showing me some items on which he'd bid. One was a well worn switch key P&MP. He didn't win. But we spent some time digging for any info. There wasn't a lot to be found. Boxcab E50
