The Columbus Tap Railway

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's what happened to the Columbus Tap Railway — and it's a story about a town that refused to be left behind. Now, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado was the first railway built in Texas. And in the 1850s, when its planners sat down to map the route from Houston all the way to Austin, Columbus didn't make the cut.

The line was going through Alleyton — three miles to the east — and that was that. Columbus, bypassed. Left to watch the commerce roll right past it.

Well. The citizens of Columbus had something to say about that. They weren't about to let their town lose its supremacy in the trade area without a fight.

So they did what determined Texans do — they projected a railway of their own. Not a grand transcontinental ambition, mind you. Just a tap line.

Something to reach out from Columbus and connect to that B.B.B. and C. over at Alleyton. Simple enough in theory. The organizers were a formidable bunch — A.M.

Campbell, John G. Logue, George W. Smith, C.W.

Tait, Isam Tooke, and J.W.E. Wallace. Influential planters, merchants, physicians, and judges.

Men who had standing and meant to use it. On February 2, 1860, the Columbus Tap Railway was chartered. John G.

Logue stepped in as president, though he was soon succeeded by E.P. Whitfield. C.W.

Tait took on the role of treasurer. A man named C. Windrow served as clerk.

Bonds were issued. Construction plans were made. Everything was moving.

And then 1861 arrived. The Civil War has a way of disrupting plans, and it disrupted these thoroughly. Here's the bitter irony of it — the Confederate army actually needed this railway.

General J.B. Magruder himself, in 1863, ordered the impressment of a hundred men to work on its roadbed. A hundred men, by military order, put to work on the very line Columbus had been trying to build.

And still the project failed to reach completion during the war years. When the war ended in 1865, the people of Columbus got back to work. The line was finally built — out to the river, where a ferry gave the city its long-awaited rail service.

Not glamorous, exactly, but it was a connection, and Columbus had earned it. The story doesn't end there. Later, the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio — the corporate successor of both the B.B.B. and C. and the Columbus Tap — ran its line from Columbus all the way to San Antonio.

And by the 1880s, that line had become part of the Southern Pacific system. A tap line. That's all Columbus asked for.

Something to stay in the game. And when you look at where that little stretch of track eventually led — well, sometimes holding your ground is the whole story.

What the marker says

The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado--first railway built in Texas--in the 1850s mapped its route from Houston to Austin through Alleyton (3 mi. E), bypassing Columbus. To retain their town's supremacy in its trade area, Columbus citizens projected a railway of their own, to tap into the B.B.B. & C., at Alleyton. Organizers were a A.M. Campbell, John G. Logue, George W. Smith, C.W. Tait, Isam Tooke, and J.W.E. Wallace--influential planters, merchants, physicians, and judges. Columbus Tap Railway was chartered on Feb. 2, 1860. John G. Logue became president, soon succeeded by E.P. Whitfield. C.W. Tait was treasurer; C. Windrow, clerk. Bonds were issued and construction plans made. The Civil War, beginning in 1861, disrupted plans. Although the railway proved to be needed by the Confederate army, and Gen. J.B. Magruder ordered (1863) impressment of 100 men to work on its roadbed, the project failed to reach completion in the war years. After war ended in 1865, the line was built to the river, where ferry gave the city rail service. Later the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (corporate successor of the B.B.B. & C. and the Columbus Tap) ran its line from Columbus to San Antonio. In 1880s this became part of the Southern Pacific system. (1973)