Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railway

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific Railway. Now, they called it a short-line railroad, and technically that's true. But don't let the word 'short' fool you for even a second.

This little line punched well above its weight, and the marker flat out calls it one of the most successful short-line railroads in the entire country. Let that settle on you a moment. The whole country.

Chartered on October 1st, 1906, by General F. W. James and a group of Abilene businessmen, it ran from Roscoe out to Snyder and Fluvanna.

Three towns stitched together by iron and ambition. Once the line was completed, Ed S. Hughes and H.

O. Wooten stepped in and took over the operation. Now, here's where the story gets interesting, because a financial crisis came knockin'.

Most railroads facing that kind of trouble just fold up and become a footnote. Not this one. Wooten went to work.

He made deals, real deals, with California produce shippers and with two of the big players, the Santa Fe and the Texas and Pacific railroads, convincing them to use his little line as a link between them. Think about that. He turned a regional short-line into a connective thread in a much bigger web.

That's not luck. That's nerve and good negotiating. The Fluvanna branch didn't survive forever.

In 1941, that leg of the line was discontinued. But the railway itself kept rolling. In 1967, the company was sold to the Murchison brothers of Dallas and Roger Mize of Snyder, and it carried on under new ownership.

What finally brought it down wasn't a crisis or a competitor. It was the deregulation of railroads in 1980, and by 1984 the line had closed. Now, you might think that's a sad ending, and in one sense it is.

But the marker makes sure you know this: the Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific was a major factor in Roscoe's settlement and growth. A short line, yes. But the kind of short line that helped build a town.

What the marker says

The Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railway was one of the country's most successful short-line railroads. Chartered on Oct. 1, 1906, by General F. W. James and a group of Abilene businessmen, it ran from Roscoe to Snyder and Fluvanna, though in 1941 the Fluvanna line was discontinued. Once it was completed, Ed S. Hughes and H.O. Wooten took over the operation. Wooten saved it from a financial crisis by making deals with California produce shippers and with the Santa Fe and Texas & Pacific railroads to use the line as a link between them. In 1967, the company was sold to the Murchison brothers of Dallas and Roger Mize of Snyder. The deregulation of railroads in 1980 resulted in its closing in 1984. Nevertheless, it was a major factor in Roscoe's settlement and growth. (2012)