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Old Posted Dec 12, 2016, 2:01 AM
llamaorama llamaorama is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2008
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Quote:
I didn't realize that Capital Metro owned the lines into Burnet and Llano Counties.
Capital Metro bought the line in 1986 when Southern Pacific sought to abandon it. Turning it into commuter rail was an idea that had been considered for a long time, and there were tests with modern commuter trains back in the 90s. Since that time they have contracted out freight operations to various private companies, Austin and Western Railroad is the current operator and IIRC the longest lasting. The line carries a lot of stone products and also serves a few industrial plants like Abbott Labs off Howard @Mopacs. As far as I know the furthest any trains go west is to Marble Falls.

Historically, the line started out as the Austin and Northwestern Railroad. It was built in 1881 IIRC. The granite used to build the Texas State Capitol was hauled by the railroad from a quarry near Marble Falls, and there are still giant marble blocks under the bridge over the San Gabriel River left over from an accident. Later it became part of Houston and Texas Central railroad, and then that became part of Southern Pacific(SP later was merged into UP, but that was in the 90s after they sold the line)

The line used to have a branch at Burnet which went to Lampasas to connect to the Santa Fe. That line closed long ago, there are still stubs in Burnet and Lampasas(or was, in the early 2000's, when I was a kid and explored/researched all this stuff).

I don't have a date for when the tracks between Burnet and Llano went out of service, but around 2001 or 2002 they were revitalized by TXDOT. However no new freight service was ever added because there were no industrial customers that far down the line. Austin Steam Train has done fan excursions down the line which is why there are occasionally some random old passenger cars parked in Llano.
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