Fort Worth Belt

Company History: The FWB was established by the Fort Worth Stockyards Company and by 1905 they had 13 miles of terminal trackage in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition to serving the parent company’s stockyards, FWB served grain elevators, produce packers as well as meat packers Armour and Swift. In 1931, the Supreme Court ruled that meat packers could no longer own stockyards and neither could own terminal railroads so the FWB was put up for sale. It was purchased by the Republic National Company who in turn sold a 60% stake in the railroad to Texas & Pacific for $700,000. FWB had seven steam locomotives over the years and was the first railroad to take delivery of an SW1 diesel switcher from EMC in January of 1939. It was joined by an NW2 in 1946. T&P’s interest in the FWB was passed to Missouri Pacific in 1976 and the FWB was merged into MoPac in 1978.

Successor/Parent History: The Missouri Pacific Railroad (reporting mark MP), commonly abbreviated MoPac, with nickname of The Mop, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (SLIMS), Texas and Pacific Railway (TP), Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI), St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway (SLBM), Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (KO&G), Midland Valley Railroad (MV), San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad (SAU&G), Gulf Coast Lines (GC), International-Great Northern Railroad (IGN), New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway (NOTM), Missouri-Illinois Railroad (MI), as well as the small Central Branch Railway (an early predecessor of MP in Kansas and south central Nebraska), and joint ventures such as the Alton and Southern Railroad (AS).

In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P and its subsidiaries, C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.

On January 8, 1980, the Union Pacific Railroad agreed to buy the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Lawsuits filed by competing railroads delayed approval of the merger until September 13, 1982. After the Supreme Court denied a trial to the Southern Pacific, the merger took effect on December 22, 1982. However, due to outstanding bonds of the Missouri Pacific, the merger with Union Pacific become official only on January 1, 1997.

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