DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Site of End of the Line Station, right here in Orange County. Now, every great route has to start somewhere — and every line, no matter how ambitious, has to stop somewhere too. This one stopped at the river.
And that stopping point turned out to be the beginning of something. It goes back to 1856, when the original charter for a rail line through the Orange area was granted to the Sabine and Galveston Railroad and Lumber Company. That same stretch of time, over on the other side of the state line, the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad Company was building a line westward from the Mississippi River.
Two railroads, two states, one dream of a trade route connecting them. The Louisiana Legislature got behind it. They endorsed a plan to join Texas in completing that interstate connection.
The two companies were eventually reorganized — brought together as separate divisions of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. And the Texas division, to its credit, pushed construction all the way to this very site before the Civil War. But here's the thing.
The Sabine River was right there. The line stopped cold at its bank. And so the first depot in Orange earned itself a name that said exactly what it was — the End of the Line Station.
Trains would roll in heavy with cargo, and right here that cargo transferred to riverboats and ocean freighters. The river wasn't an obstacle. It was the handoff.
Then the Civil War came. Sections of the line stayed in operation, which tells you how valuable it was even in wartime. But not all of it was spared — nearby rails were pulled up and used to build Confederate fortifications down at Sabine Pass, thirty-four miles to the southwest.
The railroad gave something to the war, whether it wanted to or not. After the war, the dream of that full interstate route lingered, unfinished. It waited.
It waited until 1881, when the route was finally completed — under the direction of Charles Morgan, a steamship line owner. Whatever else you want to say about the man, he got it done. The original End of the Line Station didn't last forever, though.
An 1885 storm damaged it badly enough that it was replaced — and the replacement was larger, built with river loading docks, as if the whole operation had learned something about how serious this work really was. In time, the Southern Pacific Railroad came along and took over the Texas and New Orleans line entirely. The End of the Line.
Turned out it was really the middle of something much bigger.
What the marker says
The original charter for a rail line through the Orange area was granted to the Sabine and Galveston Railroad and Lumber Company in 1856. About the same time the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad Company was building a line west from the Mississippi River. The Louisiana Legislature later endorsed a plan to join Texas in the completion of the trade route between the states. The two companies were reorganized as separate divisions of the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. The Texas division completed construction to this site before the Civil War. Since the rail line stopped at the Sabine River, the first depot in Orange was known as the End of the Line Station. Trains unloaded cargo here for transfer to riverboats and ocean freighters. Sections of the line remained in operation during the Civil War, but nearby rails were used to build Confederate fortifications at Sabine Pass (34 mi. SW). The interstate route was completed in 1881 under the direction of Charles Morgan, a steamship line owner. The first station, damaged by an 1885 storm, was replaced by a larger facility with river loading docks. The Southern Pacific Railroad later took over the T. & N. O. Line.