Texas Electric Railroad – CERA Bulletin #121 is a history of
interurban traction lines in Texas. The book covers the southern, northern, and
northwestern traction companies. It covers examples of all kinds of
electric railway operations from streetcars and interurban to freight.
There are numerous pictures, maps, car schematics and car and freight engine
rosters. The book talks about the various mergers and bankruptcies and
abandonments of the interurban lines. This is one of the most complete
books on electric lines in Texas.
The book is organized
into the different traction companies throughout Texas. The
accompanying image of the table of contents lists the different
companies. At one time interurbans ran from Denison to Waco via
Dallas. There are additional chapters on the Dallas-Ft.
Worth-Cleburne interurbans and the Terrell and Denton lines.
The companies started as
streetcar companies and grew into interurbans, connecting the vital cities of
Texas. The interurbans ran limited, local, and express passenger
service. The book covers the interurban freight service that saved
the network until 1948.
The publisher of the
book is the Central Electric Railfan’s Association (CERA) was formed
1938. The CERA encourages the study of the history, equipment,
and operations of urban, suburban, interurban, and main line electric railways. This
book is the 139th “Bulletin” published by the
organization. A number of those publications are available on this
site. Meetings are also held monthly by the organization in Chicago,
IL. More information about the CERA is available n their website.
The Texas Electric
Railroad – CERA Bulletin #121 tells the story of the Texas interurban traction
lines from inception to demise. In addition, the story is
illustrated with photographs, detailed maps, and complete rosters of the
rolling stock. Four large maps are included with the
book. If you are a rail fan, electric railroad fan, Texas history
buff or just love history, this book is a must for your collection of
interurban railways.