Steam & Excursion > If you bought a ticket to Mineral Wells

you did not arrive there by the train.  The Texas & Pacific let you off in Milsap Tx less than 10 miles to Mineral Wells (the home of Crazy Water Crystals) and put you on one of their buses to the town known for its mineral water spas.The T&P did have a line to Mineral Wells,  the Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Northwestern.  But it was a stub end branch with no passenger trains.  Millsap was  a not to wide   spot on the road, even today.  I always thought it odd that the station had the sheds known to be associated with large passenger stations.  But the traffic that got off and on there was substantial.

Here in 1947 we see the westbound Sunshine Special behind pacific #714 slowing  to discharge its passengers.  As the years went by  the public became less infatuated with mineral water and the huge Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells fell on hard times as did the station in Milsap.  By the mid 1960's the station and platform and buses were all gone.  The Baker?  It has been empty for decades and continues to rot.  And the 714?   Well who knows what was made of its metal.  One thing certain, it will not have the charm of a live, walking, and talking steam locomotive.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/15 07:57 by tomstp.

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Beautiful portrait, Tom.  Just one more reason to love T&P steam power.

Bob Callahan
Monticello, IN

Downtown Mineral Wells was hit by a tornado Tuesday night:

A large tornado struck Mineral Wells, about 45 miles west of Fort Worth, where the damage was so widespread the Texas Department of Public Safety advised people to avoid the area due to downed power lines and other scattered debris.

Mineral Wells police said the tornado collapsed an abandoned bank building behind the Baker Hotel, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, NBC News reported.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Downtown-Mineral-Wells-Struck-by-Tornado-Police-304350251.html