On this day in 1850, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado
Railway was chartered, marking the beginning of the railroad age
in Texas. The BBB&C was the first railroad to begin operating in
the state, the first component of the present Southern Pacific
to open for service, and the second railroad west of the
Mississippi River. Gen. Sidney Sherman was a member of the group
that received the charter. Construction began from Buffalo Bayou
to Harrisburg in 1851; the first locomotive, which was named for
Sherman, arrived in 1852; and the first twenty miles of track,
from Harrisburg to Stafford's Point, opened in 1853. Although
Harrisburg did not develop into the major city on Buffalo Bayou
as a result of the construction of the BBB&C, the railroad
otherwise fulfilled the expectations of its early backers. The
first railroad in Texas, now a part of Southern Pacific's
transcontinental Sunset Route between New Orleans and Los
Angeles, handles heavy freight traffic as well as Amtrak's
Sunset Limited west of Houston. O