Nostalgia & History > Inter-American combined at Temple

April 81

After the discontinuance of the Lone Star in Oct 79, a Houston-Temple,Tx section of the Inter-American was started. At Temple the Houston section and the main section from Laredo were combined.
At first all the switching was done on the Santa Fe main at the station.
Later, two tracks between the platforms were built (Santa Fe had taken them out in the 60's).
Here are the tracks under construction -- https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4623054,4623054#msg-4623054
Amtrak could then do most of the switching on those tracks - although they still needed to access the main a little.

(1) The Houston section has arrived at the Santa Fe station with a large crowd waiting to board.
They would have to wait till both sections were combined.

(2-3) Here comes the Laredo section with a nice surprise on the end.

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(4-6) Missouri Pacific business car 8 was on the rear.
Originally built by Pullman in 1925, it was rebuilt in 1966 from its parlor car config.

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(7-9) The last two shots show the train ready to continue its journey in front of the beautiful station.
The two tracks built were used by Amtrak for just a short time as the Houston section ended in the fall of 1981 - no more switching.
They would later come in handy as the Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum and their equipment now occupy the tracks.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/20 14:11 by gcm.

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Those are some excellent shots!  There is only one thing misssing that should be there.  The Lone Star!  Politics killed it.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Neat series!

Excellent presentation. I particularly like MP 8 being on the train, having spent some "Q" time on that particular piece of equipment. Don't think I've seen a MP business car on an Amtrak train in Texas before, so I think you have something pretty special here.

Politics mostly yes, but also (IMHO) Amtrak's ineptness as well.  Gary did a great job documenting the short lived Houston section of the Inter-American.  I mean dang Gary, how did you get up on that overpass so fast to grab those departing shots of the train?

texchief1 Wrote:
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> Those are some excellent shots!  There is only
> one thing misssing that should be there.  The
> Lone Star!  Politics killed it.
>
> Randy Lundgren
> Elgin, TX

Awesome shots of the Inter American manned by the Temple, TX train crews (conductor and head brakemen only) worked Temple-Fort Worth-Houston-Temple.   Galveston rear brakemen worked Houston-Temple-Houston. Santa Fe RR Temple engine crews worked between Fort Worth and Houston. Corrections are welcome!!
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/20 10:02 by RodneyZona.

Hou74-76 Wrote:
  I mean dang Gary, how did you
> get up on that overpass so fast to grab those
> departing shots of the train?
>

I was 30 back then and could get around with the best but today ? - it would take me half a day to make it up that bridge.
Gary

Awesome photo documentation with concise narratives.  Definitely liked.
The MP car is the icing on the cake.
Thanks for the excellent posting.
ALLEN

Interesting series Gary- and lucky catch with that MP business car. This all reminds me of Amtrak combining or splitting the Miami and St Pete sections of the Florida trains at Clifford Lane station in Jacksonville.

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

The palm tree was still alive!  The present day platform is being rebuilt again to ADA standards.  The museum cars are on those two station tracks now that the Inter-American used.
One thing I have always wondered, did the Houston to Clovis train have to pull in and back out of the station?

mp51w Wrote:
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> One thing I have always wondered, did the Houston
> to Clovis train have to pull in and back out of
> the station?

The California Special came in and left on the track closest to the beautiful Santa Fe depot.  It did not pull back.  The track configuration in the 1960s was different and allowed cross over to the westward main without switching.  I suspect the museum there has a track plan that illustrates how passenger trains passed through Temple back when that great old train ran.

Oh, what a joy to see this again !  Once a week in this same time frame of 1981, I 'd take my lunch break watching these movements in Temple . Thanks so much for sharing those interesting times with us , Gary .  --Kelly

They had to put the Houston section's F40 on the headend and cut the cars from Houston in between ahead of the MP car.