Palestine, Texas, Has Grown
With The Railroad

The Missouri Pacific Railroad -- long Palestine's No. 1 employer -- began 1976 with an annual payroll cost of more than $11 million to more than 6,50 railroaders in the Palestine area.

In addition to this, the rail system paid taxes of $66,000 in Anderson County, about one-half of which went to the school system.

Last year alone, more than $104,000,000 was spent to build a better railroad.

Much of the colorful railroad history of Texas has been written around Palestine, key point for over a century on today's Missouri Pacific System.

It was in this area that lines building north from South and Central Texas met those being extended southward from St. Louis. It was in the 1870s that pieces of many shortline railroads, now almost forgotten, began to fall into

place, providing through service from Palestine and Houston and from the Mexican border at Laredo to the north.

In 1873, the Houston & Great Northern pushed north to connect with the International-Great Northern in Palestine at a point opposite the old I-GN passenger station.

From that time on, Palestine has been an important point in the nation's expanding railroad network and this city became a flourishing railroad center.

Today, as headquarters for one of the Missouri Pacific's busiest divisions, Palestine stands at a strategic location of two heavily-used rail lines, one running to Houston and Galveston, the other to Laredo as well as the Rio Grande Valley and Brownsville.

From those early beginnings, railroads continued to expand in Texas so that today more than 15,000 miles of lines crisscross the state, which has the greatest railroad mileage of any in the nation.

The Missouri Pacific System alone has more than 3,000 miles of main line within Texas. Its total system includes almost 12,000 miles in 12 states. Its truck fleet operates over almost 18,000 highway miles. With these facilities, MoPac provides a highly flexible overall transportation service calculated to supply a long-term future need. MoPac's newest operation, Missouri Pacific Airfreight, operates from bases in Dallas and Houston, Providing airfreight-forwarding to all points of the U.S.A. and the world.

And as MoPac has grown, it has continued to improve its plant and equipment and now can boast of being "one of the most modern and progressive railroads in the U.S."

Movement of new motor vehicles on multi-level rack cars also has brought a new look to MoPac trains as the number of new autos moving by rail continues to increase. Unit train movements of coal, ores, grain and other commodities continue to expand. These trains, handling one commodity at reduced rates in great bulk between fixed points, are quickly loaded and unloaded and will fill an even greater role in the nation's economy in the coming years, it is predicted.

Missouri Pacific at the same time has taken new approaches to pricing its service in a variety of ways to attract new business, and is operating high speed trains to meet shippers' needs for fast, dependable service. Many Palestinians, located at a vital nerve center of the rail system, are well aware of the 'round the clock effort made to keep these fast trains moving on schedule.

While some railroads have eliminated parcel or small package shipments, MoPac is making aggressive efforts to improve its service and increase its volume of this freight. To this end, it has constructed new, automated freight terminals and other facilities required.

[photo]

This photo depicts the old International and Great Northern Railroad shops at Palestine before the turn of the century. The International Railroad came to Palestine in 1872 and was located in the same area as today's Missouri Pacific shops.

 

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