Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway

GCSF train depot, Pearland, Texas
Locale	Texas Oklahoma
Dates of operation	1873–1965
Successor	Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Galveston, Texas

The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in eastern Texas and to Purcell, Oklahoma.

In 1873, there was strong competition between the cities of Houston and Galveston; and the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad (GH&H) was the only rail link between the two cities. The competition between Houston and Galveston was fed by the quarantines, which were often imposed on Galveston traffic by Houston. These quarantines occurred almost annually and were based on yellow fever outbreaks and epidemics. So, the citizens of Galveston decided to build their own railroad line that would reach across Texas, into the Panhandle, and across the state line to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The idea was to bypass Houston. The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad (GC&SF) was chartered, and the state agreed to grant 16 sections of land per mile of track laid.

While the charter passed in 1873, the actual construction of the line did not begin until two years later. The plans to initiate construction were formulated by the railroad's first engineer, General Braxton Bragg, former commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. At a meeting of the board of directors on February 8, 1875, the board resolved to negotiate for land for both a depot and the location of the line from Galveston to an intersection of the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio line. At other meetings in 1875, the board of directors asked for proposals for contracting the building of the bridge across Galveston Bay and for the laying of track to Arcola, Texas. On April 30, 1875, Henry Rosenberg, president of the GC&SF, signed a contract with Burnett and Kilpatrick that included the construction of a bridge across the bay, complete with a lifting draw, for $69,000. The depot grounds were located between 37th and 38th Streets and Mechanic and Strand. The railroad line was to follow Mechanic Street to 60th, where it would be routed to the bridge.