This 1950s home video begins with a family in Dallas opening presents on Christmas Day 1956. The scene then shifts to a large farm with a couple of men baling hay on their Ford tractors. After picking up a young woman from the train station, the family visits a Ford Motor Company show at the 1957 State Fair of Texas. The show displays new tractors, specifically the 1957 Ford Typhoon turbine engine tractor. Meanwhile, the children spend their time enjoying the carnival rides, like the Ferris wheel, and eating cotton candy. After the fair, the film shows two short clips of a youth football practice and of two children playing outside with golf balls.
Built in 1871, the Texas and Pacific Railway Company initially intended to connect Marshall, Texas, to San Diego, California, as a southern transcontinental railroad. The company accepted a federal land grant that provided land in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and became the only railway in Texas to run under a federal charter. However, in 1873, the company failed because of financial difficulties caused by the Panic of 1873. T & P reissued construction but could only build to Sierra Blanca, Texas. In 1976, the Texas and Pacific Railway merged with the Missouri Pacific Railway. Today, the last remnants of the railway are the the original station and warehouse, both located in Fort Worth, and the railway depot, located in Marshall.
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