Rail Lines

There is much more discussion on the routes in the History page.

The Texas & New Jersey Railroad

Texas Central Railroad

  • Texas Central Line
  • Hill Country Line
  • Texas Coastal Line

The Texas & Ohio Railroad

  • Cedarville Line
  • Northern Line

After the original construction of the TX&NJ route (the Jersey Line), it seemed inevitable that the line would be extended or alternate routes would be built. The original extensions were the alternate routes for the Jersey Line itself – the Northern Line and the Southern Line were really designed to just avoid driving through the Tennessee Hills where it always seemed to be raining.

The Texas Central was constructed to provide passenger and freight services to my Mom’s hometown of D’Hanis, Texas – much as the Jersey Line provided services to my Mom-in-law’s hometown of Fleminton, New Jersey. There are two lines on the Texas Central, since you can either go the direct, rather boring route or the route through the Texas Hill Country, which should be slower (and is.) It has been an active route since the early 60s, since my parents took me and my brother to visit our relatives every year.

The Coastal Line replaced flying to Miami just to get on a cruise ship, by boarding in Houston. Unfortunately, soon after it went into service, Norwegian Cruise Line left Houston, so the line closed down with one last run to Galveston to interconnect with Carnival Cruise Line. It was the first intermodal line for the TX&NJ. It ran over the route I used to commute to my job in Houston in the 80s.

The Texas & Ohio was built to provide service to the grandkids’ house for yet another grandmother. It entered service in 2018, as extensions to the Jersey Line and the Northern Line.