Old Rusk Tramway

Rusk organized the Rusk Transportation Company in 1874 after a railroad passed it by, bought $22,000 in rolling stock and used state convict labor to build the line, with native pine rails because iron cost too much. On April 29, 1875, the little engine Cherokee reached its opening celebration two and a half hours late, and the company president, a local minister, said "the old hulk that was floundering has been righted." Within five months the rails had warped, directors could not raise money for iron, and the line sold at auction for $90.50 in 1879.

What the plaque says

Old Rusk Tramway Equipped with pine rails that warped out of shape and running at a speed often exceeded by mule wagons, the Rusk tram began operations in 1875. Bypassed two years earlier by another railroad, citizens rejoiced over the tram. Rolling stock included a used streetcar, three flatcars and a steam engine called the "Cherokee". Passengers often had to help replace the train on its tracks before it reached the end of its 16-mile line at Jacksonville. In 1879 the tram was sold. It had fostered growth by helping attract industry to the area. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 22 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.
• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 23 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 29 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.

More markers nearby

• Town of Craft — 1.0 mi
• Lon Morris College — 3.2 mi
• Church Founded by Chaplain Nicholas A. Davis, C.S.A. — 3.5 mi
• Jacksonville Independent School District — 3.8 mi