The tracks that the Branson Scenic Railway travels on date back to 1901 when the White River Railway was chartered to connect portions of the late Jay Gould’s sprawling railroad empire owned by the Missouri Pacific and St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railways. The comfort of our vintage passenger cars contrasts sharply with the harsh realities railroad pioneers found when constructing rail service in the Ozarks. Laying tracks for the White River Railway was possibly the most difficult construction task ever undertaken in the region. It meant creating hundreds of miles of level surface where there were only rugged hills, erecting tall trestles, and blasting long tunnels through mountains of solid rock. The project required thousands more workers and millions more dollars than construction in a more accommodating terrain. But its difficulty is surpassed by the eventual accomplishment and the opportunities the railroad provided the struggling Ozarks pioneers.
The White River Railway was built in two sections: a northward line beginning at Batesville, Arkansas, and the other going south from Carthage, Missouri. Construction began in January 1902 and the final spike was driven on December 29, 1905, which joined the northern and southern sections. The 239 miles of track cost more than $12 million at the time, which is more than $380 million in today’s currency and about six times normal railroad construction costs. According to the White River Railway, an intricately detailed book by Walter M. Adams, in October 1901, laborers were paid $1.25 to $1.50 per day, and men with teams were paid $2.50 to $3.00 per day. This helps to put the total cost of the railway in perspective for that time in history.
The town of Branson is a product of the railroad. Adams writes, “It started out, as did most Ozark towns, as a country store owned by one Rueben S. Branson who was granted a post office in 1882 while on Bull Creek, North or in this case down river from the present location. In 1883 Branson moved to the confluence of Roark Creek and the White River. Here speculators established a small town called ‘Lucia’ and on May 2, 1901, the post office was renamed Lucia. With the arrival of the railroad, rival land speculators got busy and bought up land to the west and north of Lucia. This was the Branson Town Corporation with Charles R. Fulbright as president. Fulbright also held the title of ‘immigration agent’ for the Iron Mountain Railroad. The official plat of Lucia was filed on October 2, 1903 while that of Branson was filed October 26, 1903. When it became obvious that the railroad would run only through the Branson Town Company’s plat the land owners of Lucia sold their interests to the town company. Both ‘towns’ maintained their own newspapers for a time, the Lucia ‘Locomotive’ and the Branson ‘Echo’. On June 11, 1904, the post office was renamed ‘Branson’ and the adjoining communities were finally incorporated as Branson April 1, 1912.”
The construction of the White River Railway in the early 1900s made the area accessible for tourists and is largely responsible for the development of Branson and the Ozarks as a tourism destination. Before the area’s economy was based on tourism, the railroad served a traditional industrial purpose, which continues to this day.
The railroad is known as the White River Route and crosses the White River in Branson (now Lake Taneycomo) before running alongside it after taking a fifty-mile shortcut over the Ozark Mountains. This line eventually became part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad between Kansas City, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas. It became a part of the Union Pacific system after a merger with the MoPac in 1982. The Missouri & Northern Arkansas Railroad now operates the line. In 1993, the Branson Scenic Railway was formed by Alan Kamp, Illa Kamp, and Tom Johnson. Through a lease agreement with the Missouri & Northern Arkansas, the railway runs excursions on this historic route from March through December. American Heritage Railways acquired the Branson Scenic Railway in September 2024 and now operates this historic attraction alongside sister railroads in Durango, CO and Bryson City, NC.
