Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad - History

History

The MCSA was chartered in June 1898 to build a line from Moscow to San Augustine, Texas by way of Camden, primarily to move products from a new W.T. Carter & Brother Lumber Company sawmill in Camden to the Houston East & West Texas Railway main line in Moscow. The lumber company’s owners provided the financing and owned most of the new railroad’s stock. The line from Moscow to Camden was completed on November 19, 1898 and was never extended to San Augustine.

At Camden, the MCSA connected to an extensive network of private W.T. Carter Company rail lines that were used to transport freshly cut timber from remote logging camps to the sawmill. Starting in the 1940s, these rail lines were gradually phased out as the lumber company made increasing use of trucks for timber extraction. Since the lumber company owned both rail operations, this process made plenty of surplus W.T. Carter steam locomotives available for use by the MCSA, delaying the onset of dieselization. The MCSA would not obtain its first diesel-electric locomotive until 1960 and still used steam power until 1965, one of the last common-carrier railroads in Texas to do so.

In 1968, the W.T. Carter & Bro. Lumber Company and the MCSA were purchased by Champion International. In 2000, both companies were acquired by International Paper. Georgia Pacific accuired all assets from International Paper (Mill and Railroad) in April 2007 and is the current owner.