Re: Marion, IN

Hi,

Just a little more. The western end of the Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk was the East and West Texas that eventually became the Cotton Belt (subsidiary of the SP).

The Grand Narrow Gauge Trunk failed for many reasons. The TC&StL was from St Louis east and the E&WT was from the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Houston and Austin TX. The 100-odd miles between the two lines was a mining railroad that never seemed to get its head above water and so the +1000 mile narrow gauge route was never really a single trunk. The TC&StL was built to places that helped pay for the building of the railroad and did not get to major population centers. OOPS.

Doug vV