Texas Mexican Railway
Encyclopedia
The Texas Mexican Railway is a class 1 railroad that operates as a subsidiary
of Kansas City Southern Railway
in Texas
. It is often referred to as the Tex-Mex, or TexMex Railway.
On January 1, 2005, Kansas City Southern (KCS) took control of the Texas Mexican Railway and the U.S. portion of the Texas-Mexican Railway International Bridge
in Laredo, Texas
. The railroad is a vital link in KCS's rail network, connecting The KCS and TFM, S.A. de C.V. While Tex-Mex remains a separate legal entity, KCS and Tex-Mex are operated as one railroad.
to Rancho Banquete, Texas
between 1875
and 1877
, and then on to San Diego, Texas
by 1879
. This 52-mile
line's main purpose was to take domestic sheep
from Texas ranch
es to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico
, and received some funding from Richard King
and Mifflin Kenedy. In 1881
, the line was sold to a syndicate that included William J. Palmer and it was given a new charter
as the Texas Mexican Railway. Under this document, the line was built an additional 110 miles to Laredo, Texas
. While the charter also allowed for other lines which would have made a 1,400 mile network, including one line from San Diego to the Sabine River with branch line
s to Tyler
, Galveston
, San Antonio, Texas
, and Sabine Pass
, these expansions were never constructed. The small Galveston, Brazos and Colorado Railroad was purchased in 1881 for a connection to Galveston, but a line was never built between the two railroads. In 1883
a bridge was built across the Rio Grande River to Nuevo Laredo
, making the Tex Mex the first Mexican
-American
rail connection. This granted rail access for all of Northern Mexico to the Port of Corpus Christi, devastating international commerce in Brownsville in the lower Rio Grande Valley, and its deep water port, Los Brazos de Santiago. This rail connection also devastated the commercial navigation of the Rio Grande, between Rio Grande City, Camargo, (Mexico), Brownsville, and Los Brazos de Santiago,located adjacent to the mouth of the Rio Grande. It was not until 1889
that the North America
n rail system connected Mexico with Canada
, and after 1910 when an international rail bridge was completed in Browsnville and Matamoros.
to 1982
, when privatization made it part of Grupo TMM. The railway became standard gauge
on July 17, 1902. In 1906
it bought the Texas Mexican Northern Railway, and in 1930
, the San Diego and Gulf Railway.
Ordered on April 22, 1938, seven Whitcomb Locomotive Works
diesel locomotive
s were delivered between August and November of 1939
. While some steam locomotives were kept until 1946 or 1947, they were almost never used, and the Tex-Mex is considered to be the first railway in the world to dieselise
.
They also began operating a 19 mile government railroad
from Corpus Christi to a naval air station
in 1940
. In 1995
, the expanding KCS bought 49 percent of Tex Mex, and in 1997
, the Surface Transportation Board
granted trackage rights to the Tex Mex to connect to the KCS at Beaumont, Texas
. Responding to increased international trade
between the US and Mexico, the railroad built a large railroad yard and intermodal freight transport
facility at Laredo in 1998
.
, however, both companies sold their shares to Grupo Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana
. In August 2004, KCS again purchased a controlling interest in Tex Mex, although they were held by a trust company
until the Surface Transportation Board
approved the move for January 1, 2005.
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Kansas City Southern Railway
Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway , owned by Kansas City Southern Industries, is the smallest and second-oldest Class I railroad company still in operation. KCS was founded in 1887 and is currently operating in a region consisting of ten central U.S. states...
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. It is often referred to as the Tex-Mex, or TexMex Railway.
On January 1, 2005, Kansas City Southern (KCS) took control of the Texas Mexican Railway and the U.S. portion of the Texas-Mexican Railway International Bridge
Texas-Mexican Railway International Bridge
The Texas Mexican Railway International Bridge is the only railway international bridge that crosses the U.S.-Mexico border between the cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. It is owned and operated by Texas Mexican Railway and Kansas City Southern de México...
in Laredo, Texas
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
. The railroad is a vital link in KCS's rail network, connecting The KCS and TFM, S.A. de C.V. While Tex-Mex remains a separate legal entity, KCS and Tex-Mex are operated as one railroad.
19th Century
Chartered in March 1875, the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad built a 3-foot gauge line from Corpus Christi, TexasCorpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
to Rancho Banquete, Texas
Rancho Banquete, Texas
Rancho Banquete is a census-designated place in Nueces County, Texas, United States. The population was 469 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rancho Banquete is located at ....
between 1875
1875 in rail transport
- February events :* February 9 - The first train passes through the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts.- March events :* March 24 - The Mayor of Los Angeles, California, approves a measure to allow the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad, a predecessor of the Pacific Electric Railway, to extend its line...
and 1877
1877 in rail transport
-May events:* May 1 - Opening of first railway in Burma , from Rangoon to Prome .-July events:* July 14 - Workers on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad walk off their jobs in an act that is seen as the start of the great railroad strike of 1877.* July 16 - Railroad workers on strike in Martinsburg,...
, and then on to San Diego, Texas
San Diego, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,753 people, 1,548 households, and 1,187 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,917.1 people per square mile . There were 1,793 housing units at an average density of 1,100.4 per square mile...
by 1879
1879 in rail transport
- January events :* January 28 – Construction of the Waimea Plains Railway, the first railway constructed under the District Railways Act of 1878, reaches Inverrcagill, New Zealand.- February events :...
. This 52-mile
Mile
A mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile...
line's main purpose was to take domestic sheep
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
from Texas ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
es to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, and received some funding from Richard King
Richard King (Texas)
Richard King was a riverboat captain, entrepreneur, and most notably, the founder of the King Ranch in South Texas, which at the time of his death in 1885 encompassed over 600,000 acres .-Early years:Born in New York City into a poor Irish family, King was indentured as an apprentice to a jeweler...
and Mifflin Kenedy. In 1881
1881 in rail transport
- January events :* January 17 - Regular train service over the Prince of Wales Bridge on the Québec, Montréal, Ottawa and Occidental Railway begins.-February events:...
, the line was sold to a syndicate that included William J. Palmer and it was given a new charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
as the Texas Mexican Railway. Under this document, the line was built an additional 110 miles to Laredo, Texas
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
. While the charter also allowed for other lines which would have made a 1,400 mile network, including one line from San Diego to the Sabine River with branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
s to Tyler
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
, Galveston
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, and Sabine Pass
Sabine Pass
Sabine Pass is the natural outlet of Sabine Lake into the Gulf of Mexico. It borders Jefferson County, Texas, and Cameron Parish, Louisiana.Two major battles occurred here during the American Civil War, known as the First and Second Battles of Sabine Pass....
, these expansions were never constructed. The small Galveston, Brazos and Colorado Railroad was purchased in 1881 for a connection to Galveston, but a line was never built between the two railroads. In 1883
1883 in rail transport
-January events:* January 10 – The Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway enters bankruptcy and is sold at foreclosure.* January 12 – The second transcontinental railroad line in North America is completed as the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks from Los Angeles, California, meet...
a bridge was built across the Rio Grande River to Nuevo Laredo
Nuevo Laredo
Nuevo Laredo is a city located in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Río Grande, across from the United States city of Laredo, Texas. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Laredo is part of the Laredo-Nuevo...
, making the Tex Mex the first Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rail connection. This granted rail access for all of Northern Mexico to the Port of Corpus Christi, devastating international commerce in Brownsville in the lower Rio Grande Valley, and its deep water port, Los Brazos de Santiago. This rail connection also devastated the commercial navigation of the Rio Grande, between Rio Grande City, Camargo, (Mexico), Brownsville, and Los Brazos de Santiago,located adjacent to the mouth of the Rio Grande. It was not until 1889
1889 in rail transport
- January events :* January 16 – The Mito Railway between Mito and Oyama, Japan, begins passenger train operations.* January 28 – The last passenger car of a Chicago and North Western Railroad train derails and overturns and is then dragged over tree stumps near Elmwood, Michigan;...
that the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n rail system connected Mexico with Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and after 1910 when an international rail bridge was completed in Browsnville and Matamoros.
20th Century
The Mexican government controlled the Tex Mex from 19001900 in rail transport
- January events :* January 1 – The Pere Marquette Railroad is incorporated and created from the merger of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad and Chicago and West Michigan Railway....
to 1982
1982 in rail transport
- January events :* January 13 The 1982 Washington Metro train derailment involved an Orange Line train in Downtown Washington, D.C. in the United States and killed three people.* January 27 The Bouhalouane train crash in Algeria killed 131 people.- March events :...
, when privatization made it part of Grupo TMM. The railway became standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
on July 17, 1902. In 1906
1906 in rail transport
- January events :* January 3 - At the annual stockholder's meeting, the charter for the Cleveland Short Line Railway is amended to specify Collinwood, Ohio and Rockport, Ohio as the terminals of the railroad....
it bought the Texas Mexican Northern Railway, and in 1930
1930 in rail transport
-January events:* January 1 – The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway, Indiana, Columbus and Eastern and the Lima-Toledo Railroad merge to form the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad...
, the San Diego and Gulf Railway.
Ordered on April 22, 1938, seven Whitcomb Locomotive Works
Whitcomb Locomotive Works
Whitcomb Locomotive Works was founded by George Dexter Whitcomb , of Chicago, Illinois, who started a modest machine shop in 1878, and began the manufacture of coal mining machinery, laying the foundation for the concern that became known as The Whitcomb Locomotive Company.-Beginnings:Mr. Whitcomb...
diesel locomotive
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
s were delivered between August and November of 1939
1939 in rail transport
- January events :* January – Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the SW1.- February events :* February – Electro-Motive Corporation introduces the NW2.- March events :* March 8 – Edward Engel succeeds Samuel T...
. While some steam locomotives were kept until 1946 or 1947, they were almost never used, and the Tex-Mex is considered to be the first railway in the world to dieselise
Dieselisation
Dieselisation or dieselization is a term generally used for the increasingly common use of diesel fuel in vehicles, as opposed to gasoline or steam engines.-Water Transport:...
.
They also began operating a 19 mile government railroad
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
from Corpus Christi to a naval air station
Naval Air Station
A Naval Air Station is a military airbase, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of their Navy...
in 1940
1940 in rail transport
-January events:* January 9 – The Østfold Line in Norway takes electric traction into use between Ås and Dilling.* January 14 – Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway discontinues the San Francisco-Los Angeles-Chicago Navajo....
. In 1995
1995 in rail transport
-January events:* January - David L. Gunn becomes commissioner of the Toronto Transit Commission.* January - Burlington Northern Railroad tests new Trough Train articulated coal hopper cars.-February events:...
, the expanding KCS bought 49 percent of Tex Mex, and in 1997
1997 in rail transport
-January events:* 5 January – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Anglia Railways ; Great Eastern ; Virgin CrossCountry; and WAGN .* 6 January – Full freight and passenger service is restored...
, the Surface Transportation Board
Surface Transportation Board
The Surface Transportation Board of the United States is a bipartisan, decisionally-independent adjudicatory body organizationally housed within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The STB was established in 1996 to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the...
granted trackage rights to the Tex Mex to connect to the KCS at Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
. Responding to increased international trade
International trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
between the US and Mexico, the railroad built a large railroad yard and intermodal freight transport
Intermodal freight transport
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...
facility at Laredo in 1998
1998 in rail transport
-February events:* February 14 – Yaounde train explosion – A freight train passing through Yaounde, Cameroon, collides with another freight; some tank cars carrying fuel oil are ruptured in the derailment...
.
21st Century
In 20022002 in rail transport
-January events:* January – The Muskingum Electric Railroad, one of only six heavy freight electric railroads in the United States, closes.* January 2 – The Iowa Interstate Railroad operates its first unit coal train over the former Milwaukee Road mainline through Amana, Iowa.* January 14 – The...
, however, both companies sold their shares to Grupo Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana
Grupo Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana
Kansas City Southern de México , formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana , is the name of a company dedicated to freight transportation using rail in the North Eastern part of Mexico...
. In August 2004, KCS again purchased a controlling interest in Tex Mex, although they were held by a trust company
Trust company
A trust company is a corporation, especially a commercial bank, organized to perform the fiduciary of trusts and agencies. It is normally owned by one of three types of structures: an independent partnership, a bank, or a law firm, each of which specializes in being a trustee of various kinds of...
until the Surface Transportation Board
Surface Transportation Board
The Surface Transportation Board of the United States is a bipartisan, decisionally-independent adjudicatory body organizationally housed within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The STB was established in 1996 to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the...
approved the move for January 1, 2005.