Texas Oklahoma & Eastern

Company History: The 40 mile TO&E runs from Valiant, Oklahoma (near the Texas border) to West Line on the Oklahoma – Arkansas border. TO&E’s sister railroad the De Queen & Eastern continues from West Line to Perkins. In addition to the DQ&E interchange, TO&E connects with the Kiamichi (ex-BN nee-Frisco) at Valiant.

The line was built in 1911 by a local lumber and coal company but Weyerhaeuser got control of it and the DQ&E early on. Under Weyerhaeuser control, TO&E operated as a paper railroad with DQ&E locomotives until the late 1960s when the first locomotives in decades to be lettered for TO&E began to arrive. Despite the separate locomotive fleets, the two railroads were operated hand in hand. In 2010, Weyerhaeuser sold their railroad properties to the Patriot Rail shortline group. It appears that since then, Patriot has been pushing TO&E back to the status of paper railroad under De Queen & Eastern.

Successor/Parent History: Patriot Rail operates 12 regional and freight short line railroads, a scenic rail excursion train, and five rail-related services companies with over 600 total rail miles across the United States.

Service capabilities include railcar storage, railcar repair and maintenance, railway clean-up and transfer, tank car cleaning and environmental services, contract switching, transloading, engineering services, excursion railroads, real estate, and track access.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.