Pryor

The Sugar Land Railway Company was chartered on April 14, 1893, in the interest of Ed. H. Cunningham and Company, to build from Sugar Land to Arcola, both in Fort Bend County, and to connect with the International and Great Northern Railroad Company. The capital stock was $142,000, and the principal place of business was Sugar Land. The members of the first board of directors were Cunningham and George W. Brackenridge, both of San Antonio; G. B. Miller, Haywood Braban, W. K. Wornow, and W. J. Bertrand, all of Sugar Land; William D. Cleveland and E. W. Sewall, both of Houston; and J. H. B. House of Duke, Texas. During the period 1893–94 fourteen miles of track was constructed by Ed. H. Cunningham and Company. In 1895 the Sugar Land Railway reported passenger earnings of $200 and freight earnings of $17,000 and owned one locomotive and one car. Control of the railroad passed to William T. Eldridge in 1908, and the following year the Sugar Land Railway acquired one mile of yard tracks at Sugar Land from the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway Company. In 1912 the railroad purchased seventeen miles of private track, from mile post 10.74 to Rotchford, from the Cunningham Sugar Company. This gave the Sugar Land Railway Company a new connection with the International and Great Northern, and the four miles between mile post 10.74 and Arcola were abandoned. Also in 1912 the company acquired the Imperial Valley Railway Company running five miles from Sugar Land to Cabell along with five miles of other tracks. The railroad completed another six miles between Otey and Anchor in 1916, and twelve miles between Cabell and Hickey were added in 1931. The following year the twenty-one miles between Anchor and House Junction was abandoned. The track between Cabell and Hickey was abandoned in 1942. In 1952 the Sugar Land Railway Company reported total earnings of $545,000 and owned seven cars and no locomotives. The rest of the rolling stock was rented. In 1952 the Sugar Land Railway abandoned three miles between Cabell and Pryor. On January 2, 1926, the Sugar Land was acquired by the New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway Company but continued to operate as a separate company until March 1, 1956, when it was consolidated with the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. The remaining tracks were removed in the 1970s.