Machinery from Early East Texas Logging Railroads

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this machinery from the early East Texas logging railroads. Now, most folks drive past old iron without giving it a second thought. But if you slow down and look at what's sitting here, you're looking at machines that had a real working life in the deep timber country of East Texas, and that life was not quiet.

Let's start with the steam locomotive and tender. Number Three, they called it. Bought in 1908 by the Carter-Kelley Lumber Company, and right away it had a job to do: help build a sawmill down at Manning, about eighteen miles south of here.

That was just the beginning. Once the mill was coming together, Number Three went to work on railroad building, logging runs, and even passenger and freight hauling. A locomotive that could do it all, and for decades, it did.

Then there's the steam loader. Built in 1906, wood-burning, and it too came to Carter-Kelley for the building of Manning Mill. After that, it found a second calling out on what they called portable logging railroads.

Now, portable is a generous word for something that heavy, but the idea was you moved the operation as the timber moved. And that steam loader was the muscle. Its cables could skid logs all the way from the forest floor to the tracks, pulling them in from distances of three hundred to five hundred feet.

Picture those cables singing under tension, dragging timber through the East Texas brush. Carter-Kelley itself kept rolling through the years, and in the nineteen thirties the company merged with W. T.

Carter and Brother. The machinery kept working under whatever name was on the letterhead. But everything that works hard eventually gets its rest.

By the nineteen fifties, both the locomotive and the steam loader were retired. Number Three and that old wood-burner had hauled logs, built railroads, skidded timber, and carried passengers through some of the deepest forest country in Texas. When the work was done, the iron stayed.

And here it still sits, patient as timber, waiting for somebody to look close enough to ask what it's seen.

What the marker says

Steam locomotive and tender No. 3 were bought 1908 by Carter-Kelley Lumber Co., for use in building a sawmill at Manning (about 18 mi. south); then in railroad building, logging, and passenger and freight hauling schedules. The 1906 wood-burning steam loader was also used by Carter-Kelley in building Manning Mill, and later served on "portable" logging railroads. Its cables could skid logs to tracks from distances of 300 to 500 feet. Carter-Kelley merged (1930s) with w. T. Carter & Brother. This equipment was retired in 1950s. (1972)