TheInternational – Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) was arailroad that operated in theU.S. state ofTexas. It was created on September 30, 1873, when the International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad merged. The railroad was officially incorporated as theInternational & Great Northern Railroad Company.[1]
At its start, the I&GN operated 177 miles (285 km) of track fromHearne toLongview, but at its peak it owned 1,106 miles (1,780 km) of track. As the railroad expanded southwestward from Hearne, it reachedRockdale in 1874 andAustin on December 28, 1876. The line extended toSan Antonio in 1880 and finally to the US-Mexican border town ofLaredo on December 1, 1881.
The I&GN, like other railroads of its time, had many financial troubles and went intoreceivership on several occasions. IndustrialistJay Gould acquired control of the I&GN in December 1880. Due to his control of theMissouri Pacific (Mopac) and theTexas and Pacific Railroad, the three were operated as one system, although they retained their separate corporate identities and seniority districts for union workers.
Due to financial difficulties, stemming in part from thePanic of 1907, the I-GN enteredreceivership in 1908 and was sold atforeclosure to a reorganized company, theInternational & Great Northern Railway Company on August 31, 1911.[2] Less than four years later, the company entered receivership again, which lasted until it was sold at foreclosure in July 1922.
TheInternational–Great Northern Railroad was incorporated by the state of Texas on August 17, 1922, and fully took over operation of the International & Great Northern Railway on December 31, 1922.[3] In a bit of planned corporate maneuvering to keep the I-GN within the Mopac fold, theGulf Coast Lines subsidiary, New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway, bought the I-GN on June 30, 1924; subsequently, theGulf Coast Lines were bought by the Missouri Pacific on January 1, 1925. Finally, on March 1, 1956, all of the GCL subsidiaries were merged into the parentMissouri Pacific Railroad Company, and the I-GN ceased its corporate existence.[4]
In the 1960s, many of the redundant out-of-the-way lines were abandoned, includingWaco toMarlin andBryan toNavasota. The latter route was subsequently traversed viatrackage rights over the Southern Pacific Railroad between the same two points. The Missouri Pacific was merged in 1997 into theUnion Pacific Railroad.
