| Equipment: | 1910: One locomotive, a passenger car, seven box cars, and eight flat cars.
1912: Four log cars, one motor car, eight flat cars, two box cars, thirty-nine log cars, two water cars, three caboose, three steam locomotives, one steam log loader,
Keeling: four rod locomotives
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| History: | The charter was filed June 9, 1906, with a capital stock of $25,000, which was owned by the stockholders of Dayton Lumber Company. The charter members included R. S. Sterling, L. Fouts, E. P. Ladd, J. M. and W. W. West. Sterling operated the line until 1910, when the West Lumber Company took over.
The proposed construction intended to link Dayton, with its Texas & New Orleans connection, to Cleveland, where connections could be made with the Gulf, Coast & Santa Fe and the Houston East & West Texas. The American Lumberman reported that year four miles had been completed and two locomotives were operating. In fact, by 1907, when ten miles had been built northeasternly to Fouts, the Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western had reached Fullerton, only five mile from Dayton. Thus it made its connection at Fullerton with the Beaumont, Sour Lake, & Western, and never built on to Cleveland. Another eight-mile logging tram extended from Fouts. By 1910 the road was extended to Lamb (Hightower).
The Southern Industrial and Lumber Review in January 1909 described the logging and tram road operations. The timber stands are situated about three miles from the mill, which is one-half mile from the Texas & New Orleans. Logging was done by animals and machinery. Tram spurs were laid one mile apart, allowing the low-wheel wagons to be pulled no more than a half mile to a spur. Fifty-six oxen, organized into seven teams, pull the 6-wheel and 8-wheel wagons. An American loader, in use since 1908, operated by backing up over the stretch of logging cars and loading cars. One engineer and two men run the loading operation. The Trinity Valley & Northern, the company tram, are owned by the stockholders of the company. The chartered road runs from the Texas & New Orleans to Dayton to Rosswood, about ten miles. A coal-fired, 50-ten Mogul locomotive pulls the log cars on the main chartered tram road. A small switch engine with great pulling power operates on the sidings and spurs. No log pond exists at the plant, so one log car at a time is hauled up a 20-foot incline next to the sawmill, where the sawtimber is unloaded. The switch line from the mill reaches both the Texas & New Orleans, which is south, and the Frisco, about five miles to the north. The chartered common carrier operates two trains to Rosswood each day, carrying freight and general merchandise
Rolling stock and operations, in 1910, included a locomotive, a passenger car, seven box cars, and eight flat cars. A twice-daily combination train ran in both directions. About ten percent of the freight moved on the line benefited others than the lumber and railway owners. In the above year, the line shipped about 32,000 tons of logs into the mill and shipped out about 20,000 tons of milled lumber. The only other operations on the line that year were a couple of tie camps and several farms.
The record of the line's abandonment began in 1929, when the Fullerton to Lumm portion of a little more than twelve miles was dropped. Four years later, the final five miles from Dayton to Fullerton were abandoned with I. C. C. approval.
Keeling lists a tram logging road of Dayton Lbr. Co. (Trinity Valley and Northern Ry.) with four geared locomotives operating on twenty miles of track. He also notes that the South Texas Hardwood Lumber Company was associated with this industrial shortline and tram raod. |