The nearby Chaney railroad junction was formed around 1880 to accommodate the Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad’s new north-south connecting line. The new line connected the GH&SA main line, located south of Houston, to the Texas and New Orleans rail yard located just north of downtown. The GH&SA was the successor of Texas’ first railroad, the Buffalo Bayou Brazos and Colorado needed a rail yard since the BBB&C yard and shops in Harrisburg had been lost to fire. It opted to build its own line across the Montrose area from Pierce Junction south of Houston in order to gain access to the Texas & New Orleans rail yard.
The line proceeded generally northward from Pierce Junction, (located near present day Almeda Road and Interstate 610), and then angled to cross the Montrose area northward and then on to Chaney Junction. At this point the line crossed the rails of the Houston and Texas Central and curved to the east to reach the T&NO yard. The portion of the line that crossed the Montrose area was abandoned around 1918 at the request of citizens and land developers in the area. Portions of the remaining stubs of the cross town line, north and south of the Montrose area, continued in use through the 1950’s in service of local industry.
Today, Chaney Junction forms a connection of the Union Pacific station loop into UP’s main line traveling east and west through Houston. East of here, the main line uses the route of the old GH&SA line while the station loop uses the old H&TC route. The loop serves the local Amtrak station as well as forming an alternate route for freight traffic through the congested central area of the city.