The Fort Worth & Rio Grande was originally built between 1887 and 1891. The
Fort Worth and Rio Grande was an affiliate of the Frisco. The line had no physical
connection with the Frisco until 1902 when the Frisco’s Red River, Texas &
Southern reached Fort Worth from the north. The Fort Worth & Rio Grande
was extended to Brady and Menard by 1911but was never a profitable line for the
Frisco. One claim to fame held by the line was its involvement with a unique
project known as the Frisco Trailway, a fenced lane about 250 feet wide extending
about 100 miles from Brady to Sonora. The lane was used to drive cattle from the
Sonora area to the railroad at Brady until a railroad was built to Sonora from San
Angelo.

 In 1936 the Fort Worth & Rio Grande operated six regulary scheduled trains (Three
each way) over the line. Trains 5 and 6 were passenger trains, 46 & 47 were locals
that operated south of Brownwood to Menard, # 35 was a fast freight and # 34 was
a northbound stock train.

 Although the Fort Worth & Rio Grande was a lightly used branch line to the Frisco,
its line between Fort Worth and Brownwood fit into the Santa Fe system well, providing
a route between the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the main line to the West Coast.
The Santa Fe purchased the Fort Worth & Rio Grande from the Frisco in 1937.

 After the Santa Fe take over, The locals became #s 47 & 48, each with a Sunday
layover in Stephenville. There were also five freight jobs working between Fort Worth
and Brownwood in addition to extra grain trains.

 In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Santa Fe’s Alco PAs were in charge of # 77 to
Brownwood, # 78 from Brownwood, and # 46 from Houston.

 In August 1982, Santa Fe and  Kansas City Southern worked out an agreement that
allowed KCS intermodal and general merchandise that originated in New Orleans and
Shreveport to be moved over the Santa Fe between Dallas and the West Coast. The
KCS trains entered the Fort Worth & Rio Grande’s line at Cresson. These trains were
#s 588, 885, and 975. KCS power would pool all the way to Brownwood. This pooling
agreement ended in 1985.

 In 1992 most of the traffic over the Fort Worth & Rio Grande stopped when the Santa
Fe sold part of its Dallas Subdivision to Dallas Area Rapid Transit. In the Fall of 1992,
Santa Fe began exercising trackage rights over the UP  between Fort Worth and
Sweetwater killing most traffic over the Fort Worth & Rio Grande. On May 20, 1994
Santa Fe ceased operations over the line. A short line, The South Orient, took over
operations.

 More to come