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The Railroads in New Braunfels

The International & Great Northern / Missouri Pacific

The International & Great Northern built through New Braunfels in 1880. They established their first depot on the main road through town called San Antonio Street. A replacement depot was built in the same spot around 1900. Chances are the first one burned down. It was replaced by a masonry structure which, amazingly enough, is still there and is still open to the public. After the depot was abandoned by the railroad, it was acquired by the New Braunfels Historic Railroad & Modelers Society in 1986. The society refurbished and restored the depot and have established a very interesting collection of railroad items, including a HO scale model layout inside and both a caboose and a steam engine outside.
The museum is open to the public from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Admission is by donation.

Here is a link to their web site:

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The Missouri Kansas Texas

The Missouri Kansas Texas built their own line from San Marcos to San Antonio through New Braunfels in 1900. In 1881 the I & GN had been leased to the MKT when both were owned and controlled by Jay Gould. Gould lost control of the MKT in 1888 but managed to maintained control of the I & GN. A number of issues arose which made it difficult for the MKT to arrange for trackage right on the I & GN into San Antonio. Also the MKT may have been obligated by the Texas Railroad Commission to build their own line to San Antonio. Construction began in 1900 from San Marcos and the first MKT train to San Antonio on its own tracks arrived on May 1, 1901.

The MKT depot was built at 501 N. Seguin Street. It was abandoned by the railroad in the 1980s. Passenger travel had ceased on the line as early as 1964 but freight operations continued until the Union Pacific bought the MKT in 1988. (The Missouri Pacific merged with the UP in 1982.) The depot was sold and moved to a spot near the freeway. Work was begun to convert it into a restaurant but it burnt done before the transformation was completed. Interestingly, the MKT then offered the San Marcos depot to the restaurant owners, for free, if the story going around is true. That depot was moved within sight of its original location. It survived the conversion process and is a popular eating establishment in San Marcos.

The Union Pacific

The Union Pacific now owns and controls both the I & GN and Katy lines in New Braunfels. It maintains a crew depot of sorts just a few blocks from the old I & GN depot. This is a mobile office structure on an almost unimproved site. It contains stations for conductors to print out their train orders and manifests, two restrooms, an eating area and two offices. It is a very unimpressive structure but it is functional in a very low key, low cost way. There are still major quarries in and around New Braunfels. The corridor is very, very busy. The UP does its best to maintain directional running in the area. The I & GN is used for southbound trains and the old Katy for northbounds. Some seventeen miles of Katy tracks were abandoned at one point in and around New Braunfels. As traffic demands grew, the UP decided to re-open the lines, much to the chagrin of some home owners who were disturbed to find what they thought was an abandoned right of way was now very much back in business.

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