Longview, TX (LVW)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$2,878,456

Station Ridership

FY 2011

35,469

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Longview depot is located where the Texas & Pacific (T&P) Railroad met the International and Great Northern (I&GN) Railway. The 1.5 story red brick facility was built in 1940. The 9,300 square foot station features a walled in porte-cochere which serves as the current Amtrak station and large, arching windows. The city is currently in the planning stages of developing a new multi-modal transportation facility which will become a greatly improved center for passenger rail, bus, and shuttle service. Union Pacific Railroad (successor to the T&P and IGN) recently conveyed the depot to the city of Longview. Longview’s station is the second busiest in the state of Texas, and the fourth busiest on the Texas Eagle route.

Longview was founded in 1870 when the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP, another Union Pacific predecessor) bought a 100 acre tract of land from farmer O.H. Methvin. SP laid out a town site in advance of track construction, named from the breathtaking view atop Rock Hill, where Methvin’s home was located.

On February 22, 1871, commercial train service began in Longview. By 1872, Longview began serving as the temporary head of the SP rail line and the federally-chartered T&P began laying tracks westward toward Dallas. The International Railroad Co. (later renamed I&GN) began serving Longview as well. In 1877, the railroad that would eventually become the Santa Fe line was begun by the Longview and Sabine Valley Railroad Company. Longview became a railroad boomtown with a thriving economic center. Rail transport allowed an increasing number of people to grow cotton, the city’s cash crop.

Longview developed around the two train depots in the town, the downtown depot and the Junction depot. In 1910, there were 18 daily trains serving Longview. In 1911, a fourth railroad, the Port Bolivar & Iron Ore Railroad, came to Longview, solidifying its image as a rail center. A grade crossing in Longview, one of the longest in Texas, spanned 11 tracks.

In the 1920s, Longview experienced an economic downtown due to soil exhaustion and timber depletion, followed by the Great Depression. However, the Depression did not last long in Longview. In late 1930, the East Texas Oil Field was discovered, the biggest in the world at 43 miles longs and 5 miles wide.

Longview is home to multiple summer festivals. AlleyFest takes place in June and features Alley Art, Alley Run, Music Fest, Kids Fest, and a Chili Cook-off. The Turnip Green Festival is held the same week as AlleyFest, and consists of softball games, concerts, cooking, and dancing. The Great Texas Balloon Race is held each July in Longview. It is a world-class competitive event that attracts the best hot air balloon pilots in the world.

Amtrak provides ticketing and baggage services at this facility.

Longview is served by two daily trains.