The Fort Worth and Denver Railway , nicknamed "the Denver Road", was a class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development of the region. The Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company (FW&DC) was chartered by the Texas Legislature on May 26, 1873. On August 7, 1951, the company changed its name to the Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company (FW&D).Handbook of Texas Online - Fort Worth and Denver Railway
/ref> The main line of the railroad ran from

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

through

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. According ...

, Childress,

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

, and

Dalhart Dalhart is a city in Dallam and Hartley counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and the county seat of Dallam County. The population was 7,930 at the 2010 census. History Founded in 1901, Dalhart is named for its location on the border of Dall ...

, to Texline, where it connected with the rails of parent company

Colorado and Southern Railway The Colorado and Southern Railway was an American Class I railroad in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908, then as part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until it was absorbed into the Burling ...

, both of which became subsidiaries of the

Burlington Route The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

in 1908. At the end of 1970, FW&D operated of road on of track; that year it reported 1493 million ton-miles of revenue freight. (Those totals may or may not include the former

Burlington-Rock Island Railroad The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad came into existence on July 7, 1930, through the reorganization of its predecessor, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company (T&BV), nicknamed the "Boll Weevil Line."Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

delayed the start of construction until 1881, when

Grenville M. Dodge Grenville Mellen Dodge (April 12, 1831 – January 3, 1916) was a Union Army officer on the frontier and a pioneering figure in military intelligence during the Civil War, who served as Ulysses S. Grant's intelligence chief in the Western The ...

became interested in the project. As chief engineer for the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, Dodge had played a large part in the construction of the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

. Dodge organized the Texas and Colorado Railway Improvement Company in 1881 to build and equip the FW&DC in return for $20,000 in stock and $20,000 in bonds for each mile of track laid. In the same year, the FW&DC and the Denver and New Orleans Railroad Company, organized in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, agreed to connect their systems at the

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

border. The FW&DC received no state subsidy other than the right-of-way easements to cross state-owned lands totaling . Construction began at Hodge Junction, just north of Fort Worth, on November 27, 1881, and by September 1882, Dodge had completed of track to Wichita Falls, Texas. By 1885, the line reached Harrold; by 1886, Chillicothe; by 1887, Clarendon and

; and by 1888, Texline on the New Mexico border. Continuing into the New Mexico Territory, the FW&DC finally linked with the D&NO where the

railhead In the UK, railheading refers to the practice of travelling further than necessary to reach a rail service, typically by car. The phenomenon is common among commuters seeking a more convenient journey. Reasons for railheading include, but are ...

s met at Union Park, near present-day

Folsom, New Mexico Folsom is a village in Union County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 56 at the 2010 census, down from 75 in 2000. The town was named after Frances Folsom, the fiancée of President Grover Cleveland. History Folsom gives its n ...

, from Fort Worth, on March 14, 1888. Service between Fort Worth and Denver began on April 1, 1888. In 1895, Dodge became president of the company, one of several railroads in which he held a financial interest.

Expansion

In 1899, the FW&DC was acquired by the

, successor to the D&NO. The C&S itself was bought by the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

in 1908, but the three companies continued to operate as separate legal entities. In part, this separation was due to Texas law, which required all railroads operating in the state to have their headquarters in Texas. This had the effect of requiring all operating railroads in Texas to be wholly owned, even if independent companies of the regional or national roads. The FW&DC was the first rail line to penetrate the northwest part of Texas, which contributed greatly to the growth of Texas cities such as Wichita Falls, Childress, Amarillo, and

. In addition, the railroad actively promoted settlement of the rural areas it served, providing free seeds, trees, and tree seedlings to farmers and ranchers to promote cotton- and wheat-growing, as well as erosion prevention. In the first four decades of the 20th century, the FW&DC built or acquired a number of feeder lines in its territory, so that by 1940, the Burlington-owned system operated of main track in Texas in addition to the

Burlington-Rock Island Railroad The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad came into existence on July 7, 1930, through the reorganization of its predecessor, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company (T&BV), nicknamed the "Boll Weevil Line."Plainview and Lubbock; the Fort Worth and Denver Northern (completed in 1932, from Childress to

Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazi ...

); and the Fort Worth and Denver Terminal (providing access to railyards and terminals in Fort Worth). In reality, all three lines were projects of the parent company from the outset. Several feeder lines operated by the Wichita Valley Railway Company (another subsidiary of the Colorado and Southern) connected with the FW&DC at Wichita Falls, including the Wichita Valley Railway (Wichita Falls to Seymour), the Wichita Valley Railroad (Seymour to Stamford), the Abilene and Northern (Stamford to

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan st ...

), the Stamford & Northwestern (Stamford to Spur), and the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma Railway (Wichita Falls to Byers and Waurika, Oklahoma). In 1952, the Wichita Valley and its subsidiaries were merged into the Fort Worth and Denver Railway. In 1925, the FW&DC had extended service from Fort Worth to

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

by acquiring trackage rights over the

Rock Island Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

between those cities. At Dallas, FW&DC trains connected with the

Burlington-Rock Island Railroad The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad came into existence on July 7, 1930, through the reorganization of its predecessor, the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company (T&BV), nicknamed the "Boll Weevil Line."Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

Passenger trains

The premier passenger train of the FW&DC was the streamlined ''

Texas Zephyr The ''Texas Zephyr'' was a named passenger train operated by the Colorado & Southern Railway and the Fort Worth & Denver Railway (both subsidiaries of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad). The train was originally designated number 1 sout ...

'' (trains #1 and 2), which operated between Dallas and Denver from August 22, 1940, to September 11, 1967. Other passenger trains included the '' Gulf Coast Special'' (train #7, Denver and Dallas), the '' Colorado Special'' (train #8, Dallas and Denver), and the '' Sam Houston Zephyr'' (trains #3 and 4 -Ft. Worth - Dallas - Teague - Houston), ''

Twin Star Rocket The ''Twin Star Rocket'' was a passenger train operated by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Introduced on January 14, 1945, it was the only new streamlined train permitted to enter service in World War II by the U.S. governmen ...

'' (trains #507 and 508) as well as motorcars over the South Plains line between Childress and Lubbock and over the Wichita Valley between Wichita Falls and Abilene.

Peak and decline

At the railroad's peak in 1944, during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

economic boom, the

Texas Railroad Commission The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC; also sometimes called the Texas Railroad Commission, TRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and sur ...

reported that the FW&DC earned $12,132,515 in freight revenue, $5,839,399 in passenger revenue, and $1,488,095 in other revenue. However, by 1972, in the face of competition from interstate highway traffic and airlines, the Fort Worth and Denver owned 20 locomotives and 1,520 freight cars, but operated at a loss of $1,743,551.

Successor companies

In 1970, the

, the Great Northern Railway, and the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whi ...

merged themselves into a single railroad, the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadi ...

, but their subsidiaries in Colorado and Texas continued to have a separate legal existence until the Burlington Northern acquired the Fort Worth and Denver Railway by virtue of the merger between BN and the Colorado and Southern Railroad on December 31, 1981. The Fort Worth and Denver Railway's corporate existence came to an end when it was formally merged into Burlington Northern Railroad on December 31, 1982. The FW&D's former main line through the

Texas Panhandle The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...

and

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

is now a heavily used route of BN's successor, the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

, primarily for coal and intermodal trains between Fort Worth and the western United States. Additionally, the

has trackage rights on this line from Fort Worth to Dalhart. No passenger trains have operated in scheduled revenue service on this route, though, since the FW&D ended all passenger service in 1967, before the creation of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

in 1971.

Rails to trails

In 1989, BN abandoned the former Fort Worth and Denver South Plains trackage between Estelline and Lubbock. In 1993, the

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state's parks and historical areas. Its mission is to manage ...

acquired of the abandoned right-of-way between Estelline and the town of South Plains to create the

Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway is a Texas state park located along the eastern edge of the Llano Estacado in Briscoe County, Texas, United States, approximately southeast of Amarillo. The state park opened in 1982 and is in size, mak ...

's hike and bike trail. The Saints' Roost Museum in Clarendon houses a restored Fort Worth and Denver Railway depot.

References

External links

Map of the Burlington Route railroad system from the mid-twentieth century, including the Fort Worth and Denver lines

Bibliography

*. URL accessed on April 3, 2006. *Goen, Steve Allen. ''Fort Worth & Denver: Color Pictorial.'' Four Ways West Publications, 1996. * * Overton, Richard C. ''Gulf to Rockies: The Heritage of the Fort Worth and Denver - Colorado and Southern Railways, 1861-1898.'' Austin: University of Texas Press, 1953, rev. ed. 1970. *Wagner, F. Hol. ''The Colorado Road: History, Motive Power, and Equipment of the Colorado and Southern and Fort Worth and Denver Railways.'' Intermountain Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, 1970. ASIN B0015YX8ZO {{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Worth Denver Railway Defunct Texas railroads History of Fort Worth, Texas Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1951 Railway companies disestablished in 1982 Texas railroads Predecessors of the Colorado and Southern Railway Defunct Colorado railroads Defunct New Mexico railroads American companies established in 1951