The TIBR began operations in 1998 when Watco leased the Kirbyville to DeRidder line from what is now the
BNSF Railway. This line had been completed in 1906 by the Jasper and Eastern Railroad, a subsidiary of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. Watco later leased other lines from BNSF, including Kirbyville to
Tenaha, Texas in 2002, and
Somerville, Texas to Silsbee in July 2004. By the time in early 2017 when the BNSF exercised an option to take back over operation of the trackage from Silsbee to Tenaha, TIBR was reduced to the original Kirbyville to DeRidder line. ==Operations==