The Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway (P&SF) is a now-defunct

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

company that was a subsidiary of the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

(AT&SF), operating primarily in 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 ...

History

Chartered November 2, 1886 as The Southern Kansas Railway Company of Texas, the railroad was originally created to handle the Texas portion of the line started by the Southern Kansas Railway Company, another AT&SF affiliate, from Kiowa, Kansas across what was then

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

to the Texas border. The Texas company then completed the thirty miles from the state line to Canadian, Texas on September 12, 1887, and the seventy miles from Canadian to Panhandle City, Texas on January 15, 1888. The trackage of a connecting line, the Panhandle Railway Company, was acquired at a foreclosure sale in 1898, extending the line from Panhandle City to Washburn, Texas, which allowed connection by way of the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway from Washburn to

Amarillo, Texas 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 ...

. However, the Panhandle City to Washburn trackage was abandoned in 1908 when the railroad built its own line directly from Panhandle City to Amarillo. At that point, the company had 125 miles of track. In June 1914, the railway was renamed the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway (P&SF), and kept expanding. The company added twenty-six miles from Panhandle to Borger, Texas in 1926, and ten miles from White Deer, Texas to

Skellytown, Texas Skellytown is a town in Carson County, Texas, United States. Its population was 473 at the 2010 census, down from 610 at the 2000 census. Located in the Texas Panhandle, it is part of the Amarillo metropolitan area. In 1926, Skelly Oil Company p ...

in 1927. Other trackage was added, either through construction, purchase, lease, or by acquisition of trackage rights. This included a rail line from Amarillo on to Pecos, Texas which passed through eastern New Mexico. Other AT&SF properties, like the South Plains and Santa Fe between

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the nort ...

and

Crosbyton, Texas Crosbyton is a city in and the county seat of Crosby County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,741 at the 2010 census. Crosbyton is part of the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The city was named for land office commission ...

, were operated by the company, while properties like the North Texas and Santa Fe between

Shattuck, Oklahoma Shattuck is a town in Ellis County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,356 at the 2010 census. History Shattuck is located in what was once the Cherokee Outlet.Everett, Dianna"Shattuck,"''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' ...

and Spearman, Texas were leased to it. In June of 1928, the AT&SF purchased two affiliated companies: the Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad Company (COW), which had already completed a line from Clinton,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

to Strong City, Oklahoma and was building west to the Oklahoma/Texas border, and the Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas (COW-T), which was then completing the line from the border west through Hemphill County, Texas to terminate at

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 ...

in Gray County, Texas. The AT&SF leased the completed line to P&SF in 1931, and both COW and COW-T were merged into the P&SF in December 1948. At the end of 1933 the P&SF operated 1,879 miles of track, being 166 miles owned and the rest leased or operated under trackage rights. The P&SF was merged into its parent AT&SF on August 1, 1965. At least some of this trackage has since been abandoned, including the Clinton-to-Strong City route which was abandoned around 1981.

References

External links

Oklahoma Historical SocietyTexas State Historical AssociationOklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian TerritoryPhotos of West Texas and the Llano Estacado
Predecessors of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Defunct Texas railroads Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1914 Railway companies disestablished in 1965 Defunct Oklahoma railroads Amarillo, Texas Hemphill County, Texas Gray County, Texas {{US-ClassI-rail-transport-stub