Terminal Railroad

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Terminal Railroad of San Patricio County. Now settle in, because this one starts with rock and ends with a hurricane, and there's a Model T Ford somewhere in the middle. It begins in 1892, with a railroad built for a very specific, very unglamorous job.

The Aransas Harbor Terminal Railroad, folks called it the Old Terminal Railroad, existed to haul rock. Rock from mainland quarries, out to jetties being constructed in the pass. Not glamorous, no.

But necessary. You don't build jetties with good intentions alone. Then comes 1909, and a new ambition arrives in the form of the Aransas Pass Channel and Dock Company, chartered to build a channel from the first south Texas deep water port at Harbor Island all the way to Aransas Pass.

And here's where it gets interesting. As crews dredged that channel, they had to put the displaced sediment somewhere, so they piled it along one side. That pile of dredged earth became the very foundation for a railroad bed.

The land that was in the way became the road. The new terminal railroad opened in 1912, running along that roadbed across a series of eight trestles. It connected with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroad in Aransas Pass, and it became an important cotton shipping tool.

A working railroad with real commerce moving along it. But then comes the detail that really sticks with you. When World War I brought a new shipyard to Harbor Island, somebody had to get the workers out there.

And whoever solved that problem had a sense of humor, or maybe just a surplus of ingenuity. They inaugurated passenger service with what they called the Toonerville Trolley, passenger coaches pulled by a converted Model T Ford truck. Not a locomotive.

A Model T Ford truck, converted, hauling coaches full of workers across those eight trestles to the shipyard. You have to appreciate the audacity of that arrangement. The railroad was riding as high as a converted Ford could carry it, right up until 1922, when Corpus Christi was designated a deep water port.

After that, business declined for Harbor Island. And when Harbor Island declined, the railroad declined with it. By 1931, the rail line was converted to a road for automobiles.

The tracks gave way to cars. Then that road was replaced by a new highway in 1960. And if you were hoping the old Terminal Railroad might at least leave something visible behind, well.

Hurricanes in 1961 and 1970 took care of that. Few visible remnants remain. Started hauling rock.

Ended hauling workers in Ford-powered coaches. And then, piece by piece, the water and the wind took it all back. That's the Terminal Railroad.

What the marker says

Built in 1892, the Aransas Harbor Terminal Railroad ("Old Terminal Railroad") provided a means for transporting rock from mainland quarries to jetties under construction in the pass. In 1909 the Aransas Pass Channel and Dock Company was chartered to build a channel from the first south Texas deep water port at Harbor Island to Aransas Pass. As the channel was dredged, the displaced sediment was piled along one side and became the basis for a railroad bed. Opened in 1912, the new terminal railroad extended along the roadbed and a series of eight trestles. It connected with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroad in Aransas Pass, and was an important cotton shipping tool. Passenger service was inaugurated with the "Toonerville Trolley", passenger coaches pulled by a converted model T Ford truck, which transported workers from the mainland to a new shipyard on Harbor Island during World War I. After Corpus Christi was designated a deep water port in 1922, business declined for Harbor Island and the railroad. In 1931 the rail line was converted to a road for automobiles, which was in turn replaced by a new highway in 1960. Hurricanes in 1961 and 1970 left few visible remnants of the terminal railroad.