R. C. Duff and other financial backers from Columbus, Ohio, and Beaumont, Texas, organized the Traction Company to build an electric line between Port Arthur and Sour Lake.
The renamed railroad amended its charter to allow it to connect Beaumont with Port Arthur, Sour Lake, Batson, and Houston, and to transport freight, passengers, mail and express.
However, as Port Arthur seemed increasingly unlikely to overtake Houston as a major shipping center, and as Sour Lake oilfield production declined, some of the original investors lost heart.
After joining the Gulf Coast Lines, the BSL&W was extended from Grayburg to Houston in December 1907 despite high water and the threat of yellow fever along the Trinity River.
In its early years, the major stopping points for passenger were: Goose Creek (terminus); the Humble Oil Refinery (the largest contributor of revenue); Highlands (a small suburban community), and Houston.
In the 1940s, the line was downgraded to diesel-busses, as the post-war economy emphasized personal transportation with automobiles eagerly produced by Detroit manufacturers to enable them to return to a peacetime, and profitable, footing.
Toward the end, the interurban was primarily a vehicle for commuting by personal servants going to and from work and home; occasionally, field trips for grade-school students on a day-long outing would take them from Goose Creek to the turn-around point at MP's Market Street Yard, on Houston's fringe area.