Blackwell, Enid and Southwestern Railway
Former railway operating in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Blackwell, Enid and Southwestern Railway (BES) was built as a short line railroad operating in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Overview | |
---|---|
Locale | Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas |
Dates of operation | 1900–1907 |
Successor | St. Louis-San Francisco Railway |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
It was founded in March 1900 to link the Frisco Beaumont, Kansas subdivision and Vernon, Texas. When the government opened the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Indian Reservation for settlement on August 6, 1901, Choctaw Construction Company (later part of the Bee Line Construction Company)[1] began construction of 251 miles of track from Vernon, Texas north to Blackwell and Enid in Indian Territory.[2] The line was built in sections, starting from Blackwell, Oklahoma to Darrow, Oklahoma (84.3 mi.) in 1900–01. Then from Darrow to the Red River (154.3 mi) in 1901–03.[3] On July 20, 1907, the railroad was purchased by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (the "Frisco"), who operated it until November 21, 1980, when the Frisco was acquired by Burlington Northern.