The Railroad in Montgomery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the railroad in Montgomery, Texas. Now settle in, because this is a story about a little rail line that punched way above its weight. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a problem.

Farmers in the Montgomery area had crops to move and no good way to move them. Markets were waiting, goods were sitting, and the roads weren't doing anybody any favors. So in 1877, area businessmen did what Texans do when something isn't working.

They organized their own solution. They called it the Central and Montgomery Railroad, the C and M for short. By 1880, they had laid twenty-five miles of track connecting Montgomery to the Houston and Texas Central Railroad at Navasota.

Twenty-five miles. That's it. But sometimes twenty-five miles is exactly enough.

They built a combined passenger and freight station near this very site, and that station became something more than a place to catch a train. It became the center of social life in the community. People gathered there.

Things happened there. It was the kind of place a small town builds its identity around. Then came 1889, and the county seat was moved away from Montgomery.

The town adjusted. A small jail was moved to the railroad yard to hold prisoners awaiting transportation. Life went on, organized around that little depot and those twenty-five miles of track.

Now here's where the story gets interesting. In 1882, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad came calling. They purchased the C and M, and what they were really after was access to the prized timber trade of East Texas.

That modest little line had something the big railroad wanted. The Santa Fe extended the rails east and west, and that original C and M line became part of the Beaumont-Somerville Branch of the Santa Fe. The eastern extension joined the original C and M line a mile west of town, at a spot that folks came to call The Junction.

Now, The Junction sounds dramatic, and in a quiet, everyday sort of way, it was. Because of how the track was laid, trains had to back to or from the depot to reach the main line. Every trip in, every trip out, the train would have to reverse.

Travel delays piled up, one backing maneuver at a time. That went on for years. Passenger service finally ended in 1951.

And later, the mile of railroad track running from The Junction to the depot in Montgomery was removed. Just gone. That mile of track that once carried passengers and freight and connected a farming community to the wider world, lifted up and taken away.

What started as twenty-five miles of ambition in 1877 eventually narrowed down to nothing at all. But the story of how it got there, and what it meant while it lasted, that's worth remembering.

What the marker says

Problems with transporting farm crops to market, along with the growing importance of rail transportation were major factors that prompted area businessmen to organize the Central and Montgomery (C & M) Railroad in 1877. Completed by 1880, the C & M consisted of a 25-mile track connecting Montgomery with the Houston & Texas Central Railroad at Navasota. A combined passenger and freight station constructed near this site was often the center of social activity. After the county seat was moved from Montgomery in 1889, a small jail, moved to the railroad yard, held prisoners awaiting transportation. In 1882 the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad purchased the C & M, thus acquiring access to the prized timber trade of East Texas. By extending the rails east and west, this line became the Beaumont-Somerville Branch of the Santa Fe. The eastern extension joined the original C & M line a mile west of town at a point that became known as "The Junction." Travel delays resulted from trains backing to or from the depot to the main line. Passenger service was discontinued in 1951. Later, the mile of railroad track from "The Junction: to the depot in Montgomery was removed.