Rare photos of Kerrville's self-propelled rail car -- the '500'

For those who don't remember, Kerrville had rail service until the 1970s.  Passenger service stopped long before -- but in the early part of last century there was a little self-propelled car which shuttled passengers from here to San Antonio.

The '500' car, at the Kerrville depot.
This photograph is fairly well known, and I published it in one of my books.

What a lot of people don't realize is this: there are other photos of the little car, most notably in a publication by J. E. Grinstead.

Grinstead, who published the Kerrville Mountain Sun soon after his arrival here later published magazines and pulp-westerns.  Most of his magazines were plainly meant to "boost" the Kerrville area.  In one issue he published many images of the little '500' car.  I can only imagine the passengers were game to his plan, because the photographs indicate they stopped many times on their journey to San Antonio.

Click on any image to enlarge

The '500' crossing Cibolo Creek.
Note the fellow posing on the rocks in the creek bed.

Traveling through "Spanish Pass."

Crossing the Guadalupe.  This bridge still exists, past Comfort.

Although it's hard to find, the '500' car is in this photo.

The little '500' crossing Cypress Creek Bridge.