FORT WORTH AND WESTERN RAILROAD. The Fort Worth and Western Railroad Company was chartered on May 13, 1988, to acquire trackage in Fort Worth from the Burlington Northern Railroad Company. This track had been owned by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company prior to its merger into the Burlington Northern. The new road was capitalized at $100,000, and the business office was in Fort Worth. Members of the first board of directors included Edward M. McLaughlin of Euless, Jerry Brannon of Granbury, and William S. Davis, Sr., Robert Robertson, and Bradford Farrar, all of Fort Worth. The company began operating in October 1988 over 6.5 miles of track. It is controlled by the Tarantula Corporation. The Tarantula Train, an excursion passenger train, operates over the Fort Worth and Western between Eighth Avenue and the Fort Worth Stockyards. The Tarantula Corporation also controls the Fort Worth and Dallas Railroad Company with 1.25 miles of track at Dallas. This line, acquired from the Union Pacific, began operating in November 1988.
