3 Texas Industries

Railroad service was ready to begin, but the steam locomotive, which was being shipped by river boat, had not arrived. So three oxen pulled the cars from Caddo Lake to Marshall, TX. That was the first railroad transportation used by the Marshall Railroad Depot.

For years the trains from Marshall, TX only ran to Longview, TX and Shreveport, LA. The people of Harrison County offered to loan money, and the City of Marshall donated land so that the Texas and Pacific Railway company would move to Marshall. T&P President George Jay Gould agreed and moved the T&P workshops and general offices for Texas to Marshall. The Marshall Railroad Company was allowed to build a railroad from Marshall all the way to the Pacific Coast (California). This is when the Marshall Railroad Company changed its name to the Texas & Pacific Railway Company.

The shops were built up and down these tracks. The shops built the equipment needed to run the Texas & Pacific Railroads. Marshall's population grew a lot because people came to Marshall from all over the world, and even whole families, to work for the Texas & Pacific Railway Company.

John J. Lancaster took leadership of the company.

At the time, the largest oil field in the world was located in Kilgore, TX.

The tunnel was built so people could safely get to the T&P Railway Depot that was built between two railroad tracks.

After World War II ended, the Texas & Pacific Railway Company stopped using steam locomotives and started using diesel engines, traveling by airplane became popular, and Interstate highways were built making it easy to travel by car.

Although the transportation of people stopped, the Railroad Depot still transported goods.