Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway

The first of two shortlines that would later constitute the WBT&S was the Trinity and Sabine Railway (T&S), which was chartered in 1881 to move timber via the International–Great Northern Railroad (IGN), which operated as part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MP) system.[2][7][8] Jay Gould, the railroad magnate who controlled the MP, the IGN, and Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MK&T, popularly known as the Katy), purchased the incomplete T&S on December 9, 1882, and sold it later that same day to the MK&T.[8] The purchase did nothing to increase traffic on the Katy main line through Waco about 100 miles (160 km) away, and there was no plan to connect the lines;[9] the T&S was intended solely to funnel traffic to the IGN. In 1884, the 66-mile (106 km) line from Trinity to Colmesneil was completed at a cost of $2,640,000 ($86 million in 2022), with the MP acting as the construction contractor.[10] Historian V.V. Masterson writes that this was part of a complex scheme by Gould to strengthen the MP using MK&T capital—a scheme Masterson describes as the "systematic looting" of the Katy.[11] The T&S became popularly known as the "orphan division" or "orphan Katy" due to its isolation from the bulk of the Katy system.[2][12]

The second WBT&S ancestor was the Beaumont and Great Northern Railroad (B&GN), founded in 1905,[1][2] the brainchild of William Carlisle, a lumber magnate who owned two sawmills, 140,000 acres (57,000 ha) of prime timberland, and a headquarters in Onalaska, near the planned railway's midpoint. The BG&N built a 48-mile (77 km) rail line from Weldon through Trinity and Onalaska to Livingston.[6] The company was soon taken over by Beaumont lawyer and board member R.C. Duff, who envisioned extending it westwards to Waco and southwards to Beaumont and Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, where it would connect to the Gulf of Mexico. Duff was unable to adequately fund his ambitions and sold the railway back to Carlisle, but Duff later convinced Carlisle that the line could be sold to the Katy. Carlisle sold his interest back to Duff, who in turn initiated sale to the MK&T, but the Katy was mired in an antitrust lawsuit with the state of Texas and had to put the purchase on hold.[13] In 1914, the Katy resolved the lawsuit, purchased the BG&N, and leased it for 99 years.[1]

A considerable amount of traffic was generated by a large sawmill operated by the Texas Long Leaf Lumber Company (TLLLC) in Trinity, where the MK&T connected to an extensive network of TLLLC logging railroads.[4] Despite this, the isolated branch lines were not profitable.[3] The Katy entered receivership in 1915, largely due to overexpansion, and formulated a plan to spin off less profitable branches. The reorganization was put on hold by the 1917 nationalization of the U.S. rail system prompted by World War I, but was restarted when the government relinquished control of the nation's railroads in 1920.[13] In 1922, the Katy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to allow the abandonment of the BG&N and T&S, but the agency deemed the lines vital to the economy of the area and would not permit it.[3]

In 1923, the Katy sold the former BG&N to Duff, who revived his plan to extend the railroad to Central Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, naming it the Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway.[13] Independent operations started on April 1, 1923. Later that year, Duff purchased the former T&S for $100,000 ($1.72 million in 2022)—a small fraction of its construction cost—and merged it with the WBT&S in 1924.[1][8] Duff is rumored not to have paid the Katy the full $100,000, but the MKT[lower-alpha 1] is said not to have pressed the matter because of its heavy and persistent losses operating the railroad.[3]

The WBT&S interchanged with the MP at Trinity, the Groveton, Lufkin, and Northern Railway (GL&N) at Groveton, the Texas and New Orleans Railroad (T&NO) at Colmesneil, and the Houston, East and West Texas Railway (HE&WT) at Corrigan and Livingston. The HE&WT and T&NO were part of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) system.[2]

In 1926, the WBT&S reported earnings of $25,802 ($426,509 in 2022) from passenger service and $243,020 ($4.02 million in 2022) from freight.[1] However, it was consistently losing money after expenses.[3] In 1927, Duff obtained approval from the ICC for his extension plan, but he was unable to raise adequate funds and no construction was ever undertaken. (Of the four locations in the Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine name, the only one the railroad ever served was the city of Trinity.)[1][14]

In 1930, the depletion of local timber and the onset of the Great Depression plunged the railroad into bankruptcy.[1][5] Duff was forced out and TLLLC president Paul T. Sanderson was appointed receiver.[3] In 1931 the Trinity County Lumber Company, which owned the GL&N, closed its sawmill;[15][16] the GL&N, which interchanged with the former T&S Trinity–Colmesneil line, was abandoned soon thereafter.[lower-alpha 2] Minimal traffic remained on the former T&S, and in 1936, it was abandoned in its entirety.[1][2][5]

In 1941, the former BG&N west of Trinity was truncated from Weldon to Kittrell.[1] In 1944, Sanderson died and T.L. Epperson of Trinity was appointed receiver.[3] Around this time, passenger and mail service from Trinity to Livingston had been reduced to an improvised railcar built from a Ford Model A,[4] which towed an improvised trailer to comply with Jim Crow laws regarding carriage of Black passengers.[5]

Remaining major WBT&S customers were a sand refining plant at Luce (near Sebastopol), pulpwood yards in several locations, a basket plant and a box plant in Trinity, and crude oil and mineral oil loading in Kittrell.[15][3] In 1945, the Humble Oil Company crude oil loading rack at Kittrell shut down.[15] In 1948, the Wobbly was earning some revenue by convincing local businesses to consign freight shipped on the MP to the WBT&S Trinity depot although the freight was not actually handled by WBT&S trains. In 1949, 23.6 miles (38.0 km) of the former BG&N from Livingston to Luce was removed, severing the line's remaining connection to the SP.[1][2][3]

By this time, the Wobbly was operating trains infrequently, and derailments were a constant problem due to minimal maintenance.[2][3] The WBT&S suffered another blow when the Luce sand plant burned and was not rebuilt because changing oil drilling techniques had reduced the demand for its products.[3] The TLLLC sawmill in Trinity, a major WBT&S customer, shut down in 1955.[18]

In 1959, the Wobbly's sole operable steam locomotive failed an ICC safety inspection, and operations ceased permanently.[1][2] The company operated under receivership from 1930 until its books were finally closed in 1961—the longest bankruptcy in Texas rail history.[1]

Most WBT&S track was removed by 1961.[1] The only significant remainder was a 5-mile (8.0 km) section purchased by the Trinity Chamber of Commerce with the main objective of maintaining rail service to the American Box Company, a major local employer. By 1972, most of the five miles had been removed, and the 1,250 feet (380 m) of track from the MP main line to the box plant was the only significant remnant of the Wobbly system.[3]

• Durrenberger, Cyril (July 1988). "A railroad you can model: The Wobble, Bobble, Turnover & Stop". Model Railroader. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company.
• Masterson, V.V. (1952). The Katy Railroad and the Last Frontier (1st ed.). Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.
• Maxwell, Robert S. (1998). Whistle in the Piney Woods: Paul Bremond and the Houston, East and West Texas Railway. Denton, Texas: East Texas Historical Association and University of North Texas Press. ISBN 1-57441-061-X.