Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Old Katy Railroad Bed

Straight out of a James Bond movie, men were down in the drain pipe as it was covered over and new sections were added in the front. But, the history here lies in the railroad bed that the drain pipes are now below.
The Katy or the Missouri,Kansas,Texas Railroad (M-K-T) was the first railroad to enter Texas from a Northerly point. It was chartered on  May 23,1870. The railroad's stock symbol was K-T and soon, the railroad was know as the K-T. Later it was changed to Katy. Today the 3.5 mile long section of the Katy Trail has been  converted to a trail from the Park Cities area to the American Airlines Center downtown. There is a Katy Trail extension that runs through the M-Streets and connects with White Rock Lake. This new section is just North of Mockingbird Lane and runs South/Southwest to the Katy Trail Extension just before T and P hill. Following the railroad bed that has been removed, the former track parallels the water filtration building, is now an active finished trail that crosses Grand Avenue at Gaston and continues up the hill behind the golf course off Samuel Blvd., where it once tied into the Union Pacific track section that is live rail today. At this point, the trail turns and heads to Fair Park.
Going North from this point  the former rail bed travels along its present course crossing Greenville Avenue just North of Meadow Road, traveling along what is presently used by DART on the Red Line adjacent to the Royal Oaks Golf Course .
Looking North toward the Meadow/Greenville Crossing

A symphony of equipment working in unison to travel forward with drainage culverts buried under the old Katy Railroad tracks.

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