Moscow, Camden and San Augustine Railroad - Passenger Train Service

Passenger Train Service

When MCSA operations began in 1898, Texas law required railroads to operate passenger service in order to claim common carrier status. In 1927, the railroad's original passenger car was replaced by a wood combine car built in 1898 for the Long Island Rail Road. It would be the last passenger car ever owned by the MCSA.

In its early years, the railroad provided a vital link to the outside world for the residents of Camden. Ridership declined sharply in the 1930s as highways were constructed in the area and automobiles and buses became more popular. However, passenger service remained profitable enough to justify its continuation. In the 1950s, its popularity increased as tourists and railfans became attracted to the pleasant East Texas forest scenery, the old-fashioned wood combine, the rustic wooden train station at Camden, and the steam locomotives. Other attractions in Camden included the quaint, old-fashioned company store and the “Locomotive Graveyard”, a portion of the railroad yard where a number of old MCSA and W.T. Carter steam locomotives had been left to decay in the elements.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, passenger service remained popular despite dieselization of the MCSA and discontinuation of regular connecting passenger service by the Southern Pacific Railroad at Moscow. After the line was purchased by Champion International, the new owners became concerned about the possibility of civil liability in the event of an accident, especially given the age of the railroad’s 1898 wood combine. Passenger service was finally discontinued in July 1973.