Railroads: Rolling the Permian Basin

The going has been so rugged for U.S. railroads that the Government has not authorized the building of an all-new road since 1924. And that one, the Wenatchee in Washington State, never got off the planning boards. But last week the Permian Basin Railroad Co. of Odessa, Texas, announced that it will begin construction in the spring and hopes to open track from Odessa to Seagraves, Texas, by early 1970. Construction costs will be a modest $9,000,000 because the all-freight Permian Basin will be only 78 miles long.

Every mile has been bitterly contested. Incorporated in 1960 by businessmen in and...

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