The Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway (WBT&S) was a standard gauge U.S. shortline railroad located in East Texas.
[3][6] In 1959, the railroad's sole operable locomotive failed an Interstate Commerce Commission safety inspection, and its trains never ran again.
[2][12] The second WBT&S ancestor was the Beaumont and Great Northern Railroad (B&GN), founded in 1905,[1][2] the brainchild of William Carlisle, a lumber magnate who owned two sawmills, 140,000 acres (57,000 ha) of prime timberland, and a headquarters in Onalaska, near the planned railway's midpoint.
Duff, who envisioned extending it westwards to Waco and southwards to Beaumont and Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, where it would connect to the Gulf of Mexico.
Carlisle sold his interest back to Duff, who in turn initiated sale to the MK&T, but the Katy was mired in an antitrust lawsuit with the state of Texas and had to put the purchase on hold.
[13] In 1922, the Katy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to allow the abandonment of the BG&N and T&S, but the agency deemed the lines vital to the economy of the area and would not permit it.
[3] In 1923, the Katy sold the former BG&N to Duff, who revived his plan to extend the railroad to Central Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, naming it the Waco, Beaumont, Trinity and Sabine Railway.
[1][8] Duff is rumored not to have paid the Katy the full $100,000, but the MKT[a] is said not to have pressed the matter because of its heavy and persistent losses operating the railroad.
[citation needed] In 1949, 23.6 miles (38.0 km) of the former BG&N from Livingston to Luce was removed, severing the line's remaining connection to the SP.
[2][3] The WBT&S suffered another blow when the Luce sand plant burned and was not rebuilt because changing oil drilling techniques had reduced the demand for its products.
[1] The only significant remainder was a 5-mile (8.0 km) section purchased by the Trinity Chamber of Commerce with the main objective of maintaining rail service to the American Box Company, a major local employer.
By 1972, most of the five miles had been removed, and the 1,250 feet (380 m) of track from the MP main line to the box plant was the only significant remnant of the Wobbly system.
[3] When it commenced operations in 1923, the WBT&S equipment roster consisted of six 2-6-0 steam locomotives inherited secondhand from the MKT[a] and B&GN, numbered 101–106.