From my local paper, the Sherman (TX) Herald-Democrat: Restoration of railroad is studied BY VICKI GRAVES HERALD DEMOCRAT BONHAM -- As the Union Pacific looks to abandon its rail line east of Bonham, the Fannin County Rail District wants to put railroad restoration back on track. Members of the Rail District said they hope to work out an agreement with UP to buy the section from Paris to Bells and get a contract with a shortline operator to provide service. This is the last remaining line that runs east to west across the counties. The UP plans to file abandonment documents April 29 and pull up the railroad, but the Rail District wants to save the line and revive rail business. UP recently sent the Rail District a letter stating its intentions to seek an exemption from the process that's required to abandon and salvage the rail line. A room full of UP representatives and Rail District members met behind closed doors Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall. The group at the meeting talked about the proposed abandonment of the rail line from Paris to just east of Bonham. UP plans to cut off and abandon all the rail service east of Bonham and salvage the line, so it would be gone forever. The negotiating session lasted more than two hours. "We needed to meet in private and lay our cards on the table," said Fannin County Judge Derrell Hall, the newest member of the Rail District. "They want to do away with the railroad, take it up and it will be gone," Derrell Hall said. "We're just asking for time to figure out a way to purchase this rail line and operate it so that we don't lose rail service." He said some people think that rail is a dying industry, and right now it is slow and depressed. But it will be an important part of economic development in Fannin County's future, Derrell Hall said. "Our feeling is that, once that line is gone, it's gone forever. It's cost prohibitive to replace the line, so we hope to work a deal to preserve it and regenerate rail business." He said three things are essential for any heavy industry. They are an adequate water supply, a good transportation (highway) system and rail service. Fannin County has a good and improving highway system and a marginal water supply. If there's no railroad, the county would be out of the picture for any heavy industry in the future. With the meetings going on at the Courthouse to determine what happens to that 45-mile section, Jim Templin, over a lunch break, addressed the Bonham Rotary Club. "Back in the fall of 1999, there was a $750 surcharge instituted on this old transcontinental division that runs through here in an attempt to run the business off and get people to quit shipping by rail. But there was a problem. People here in Fannin County said we've got to have our railroad and we're not going to let you run business off. So, the commissioners created the Fannin County Rural Rail District. "Since the spring, I've been working with them to develop a viable operating plan for the immediate and future benefit of Fannin County," Templin said. He's found that 500 jobs are directly affected and 200 jobs are indirectly affected by the railroad. Since the rail line ceased operation, farmers in Honey Grove take a 20-30 percent hit on all their agricultural products. They've had an increase in fertilizer prices ($15 per ton cost to get it trucked in) and an extra 20 cents per bushel to get stuff hauled out by truck, Templin explained. "We've got to keep agriculture viable in Fannin County. If we are not successful in saving this railroad, when Fannin County tries to attract new business, any place that's got the ability to bring bulk commodities in by rail has the advantage." He said the state is about to spend $15 million to build a railroad near San Antonio, where there's never been a railroad, in order to attract a Toyota plant. Templin said someone in Frisco told him they wished they had the opportunity Fannin County has right now with the railroad. "We have the opportunity to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse," Templin said. "This will be our only opportunity to make Bonham a tourist destination. Any city that wants to reinvent itself has to have an anchor tourist destination. We're going to do everything we can to bring in a collection of five steam locomotives and finance a tourist railroad." Templin asked if anyone saw the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou," and told the group, if they saw the train used in that show, they saw some of the equipment he wants to bring to Fannin County. Templin said shooting the movie on a steam engine in June in Greenville, Miss., is not the coolest thing to do, but in the two weeks it took to shoot that one scene, more than $1 million was pumped into the local economy. Describing a train ride, he said, "You would not believe how pretty and scenic the ride is east of Bonham. You would never know that you were near civilization. As you go on toward Windom, you cross a bridge and you can see almost to the Red River off this huge trestle. You come up into Windom and the railroad just kind of hills and dales through there. "Conservatively, we can get 50,000 people to pay money to ride the train," he said. "And a tourist is the best friend you can have because he shows up and spends his money, then goes back home and somebody else runs him water, roads and sewer. When we save this railroad, we're not only going to save freight service, but we're going to bring something that's going to make Fannin County a good tourist destination." Templin said he's urging everyone to get behind the project, saying that when this opportunity is gone for Fannin County, what else does Bonham have to attract 4.5 million Dallas-Fort Worth people who want a place to go to on the weekend? "The railroad would be owned by a branch of Fannin County and my business would operate it on their behalf. The revenue stream would be the county taxing us for the right to use the railroad," Templin said. There is enough revenue from operation to run it indefinitely, but there's not enough revenue to retire a large capital debt on the head end (to build new.) The Rail District won't take any tax dollars. All the money from the operation will go back in to operate it. Ralph Hall, who said he supports the Rail District, said that long ago when cotton and cattle were big in Texas, a Chamber of Commerce he knows of got together and turned to tourism. Their analogy was that one tourist was worth one bale of cotton and a heck of a lot easier to get together. At this point in the negotiations, the Rail District and UP heard each other's positions after the day's meeting. The two have opened a dialogue regarding the purchase of part of the railroad between Paris and Bonham. "We are early on in talks about what might be purchased, what it might cost and what arrangements might be made to operate trains on the rail line here," Ralph Hall said. He said he came to the meeting "mostly to listen" and to hear both sides and get an idea how much money it might take to save the rail line, repair it and to provide quality rail service again. Derrell Hall said he didn't hear a figure tossed out, but that Texas Northeastern Railroad still intends to file intention to abandon its service between Bonham and mile marker 94. It won't affect the Rail District's ability to have ongoing negotiations with UP for the purchase. The abandonment simply says that Texas Northeastern won't run a train. "UP has told us they would be willing to sell that line," Derrell Hall said. "We don't know a price and we need help with the money. The congressman indicated a willingness to help us look for the money."
Bob- Any chance you have a map somewhere showing this area of the RR? Am curious what the stations are that may be associated. Boxcab E50
That is pretty country up there. It would be a pleasent ride both ways, especially if there were decent "home cooking" places for the tourists to eat lunch, or stay the night and return on the next train. Maybe Toyota would even consider moving there?
The line involved was first built in the 19th century as the Transcontinental Division of Texas & Pacific from Texarkana to Ft. Worth via Whitesboro. The Texarkana-Whitesboro segment was 173 miles in length, and was leased by owner UP to Railtex for its new Texas Northeastern Railroad. Shortly thereafter the Sherman-Whitesboro line was taken up by UP. At Bells, MKT's Greenville line out of Denison crosses the T&P- the line between Bells & Denison was torn up by UP, and a connecting track was built for TNER and sister road Dallas, Garland & Northeastern (we call it Digno in these parts) to operate- it's still in service from Bells to Garland. In 1995 TNER, citing low traffic, stopped operating between Paris & New Boston, and UP took up that line shortly thereafter. TNER stopped running east of Bells citing low traffic, and placed a $750 per car surcharge to discourage rail traffic, leaving the Bells-Paris segmant dormant. This part is the subject of that article. Any traffic on this line would consist of wheat, soybeans, fertilizer, absorbent materials (for the Kimberly-Clark plant in Paris) and steel and coil wire, plus whatever else they could round up. Its eastern interchange would be with Kiamichi RR, itself a RailAmerica line (as is Teener and Digno). From Bells east, the stations are: Savoy (a spur goes north to the TU power plant, but that's been cut in half by construction of the new US 82 alignment). A bag plant is in business there. Ector Bonham (big fertilizer plant west of town, Bonham Wire in town, plus some feed mills) Dodd City Windom (two grain elevators) Honey Grove (grain & peanuts here in the self-named "Sweetest Town in Texas") Petty Brookston Paris (KRR interchange, plus Paris ADM Feeds, Kimberly-Clark, and a spur into the former Babcock & Wilcox boiler works, which is in business under new management). All track 1/4 mile east of the T&P depot (which has been restored) is gone. Hope this helps. And yes Watash, it IS nice scenery to be in- driving that distance between Sherman & Paris is like being back in the Midwest, and this time of year the bluebonnets are in full bloom, and the wheat fields are coming up nicely- I'll be dodging grain trucks in a coupla months if the weather cooperates. Rich farmland, cattle pastures, and a segment of the original prairie that used to cover this area has been saved to remain in its natural state.
Almost forgot- the line in question is between Bells (12 miles east of Sherman) and Paris, about 53 miles or so. It parallels the "old" US 82 (now Texas 56), and is in Grayson, Fannin, and Lamar Counties in northeast Texas, along the Red River.
Bob- Here's a sample of paperwork from the T&P days along that particular line subdivision. Boxcab E50
