Midland and Northwestern Railroad
Andrews, Andrews County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Chartered Jan. 16, 1916, by Midland Farms Co., which was owned by David Fasken of Toronto, Canada. The 65 miles of road were completed from Midland to Seminole in 1918. Operated with an engine borrowed from Texas and Pacific Railway until 1920, when its operations ceased. Fasken purchased the C Ranch in 1912 from estate of Chicago meat packer Nelson Morris. Used part of land for track right-of-way. Developed railroad to ship cattle to markets and encourage settlement. Town of Fasken at peak had one-story depot, hotel, general store, two dwelling houses, schoolhouse and stock pens. The standard gauge line had one passenger coach, two flatcars, a mail and express car. Had trouble keeping on schedule because equipment was old and needed repairs constantly. Fireman and engineer shot coyotes en route to break monotony. In 1920, M.&N.W. went into receivership, and was sold to T.&P. after flash floods floated crossties away from roadbed. After approval by the Texas Railroad Commission, M.&N.W. was abandoned in 1923. Line was without prospects of increasing tonnage, was not prudently located, and would have lost money if operated. (1967)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Chartered in 1916 by David Fasken's Midland Farms Company, the Midland and Northwestern ran sixty-five miles of standard-gauge track from Midland toward Seminole to ship cattle and lure settlers to the plains. It was a shoestring operation—an engine borrowed from the Texas and Pacific, aging equipment, and crews said to shoot coyotes from the cab to break the monotony. Flash floods that washed away its crossties helped finish it off, and the line was abandoned in 1923 as unprofitable and poorly located.
Why it matters
Its brief life is a candid portrait of the speculative short-line railroads that tried, and often failed, to conjure towns and profit from the empty West Texas plains.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early twentieth century, the high plains of West Texas were still thinly settled ranch country. Enormous cattle spreads, often owned by distant investors, covered land where towns were few and far apart. The Texas and Pacific Railway ran east and west through Midland, but the country to the north was largely beyond the reach of rails.
This was the great age of short-line railroads. Investors and land companies across the West believed that if they built a railroad, settlers would follow, land would be sold, and towns would appear along the tracks. Sometimes it worked. Often the dream ran into reality: too few people, too little freight, and a harsh landscape.
The Midland and Northwestern was born in 1916, while World War I was raging in Europe, and it died in the early 1920s. That was just before the Permian Basin's oil boom transformed the very region it had tried to develop. Its timing could hardly have been worse.
People & events
The railroad was the project of David Fasken, a businessman from Toronto. In 1912 he bought the C Ranch from the estate of Chicago meatpacker Nelson Morris, and he used part of that land for the railroad's right-of-way. His Midland Farms Company chartered the line in January 1916, hoping to ship cattle to market and draw settlers onto his land. By 1918, 65 miles of standard-gauge track ran from Midland to Seminole.
It was a modest operation in every way. The line had one passenger coach, two flatcars, and a car for mail and express, and it used an engine borrowed from the Texas and Pacific. The equipment was old and always needing repairs, so trains struggled to keep a schedule. On the long, empty runs across the plains, the fireman and engineer reportedly shot at coyotes to pass the time. At the line's peak, the little town of Fasken had a one-story depot, a hotel, a general store, two houses, a schoolhouse, and stock pens.
The end came quickly. Operations stopped in 1920, the company went into receivership, and the road was sold to the Texas and Pacific after flash floods washed crossties out of the roadbed. With the Texas Railroad Commission's approval, the line was abandoned in 1923. The official verdict was blunt: there was no prospect of more freight, the route was poorly located, and it would have lost money if it kept running.
Its place in the American story
The Midland and Northwestern is a small, candid example of a big American story. Across the West, railroads were built ahead of settlement on the hope that they would create the population and trade to support them. Many succeeded and created lasting towns. Many more, like this one, collapsed and left behind ghost towns and faint roadbeds.
It also reflects how much of the West's development was driven by distant capital. A Toronto investor buying a ranch from a Chicago meatpacker's estate to build a Texas railroad is a reminder that the "frontier" was tied into national and international money from the start.
The railroad's failure is also a lesson in timing. Within a few years of its abandonment, oil discoveries would bring a flood of people and money to the Permian Basin. Short lines like this one show how quickly the fortunes of a place could change, and how unpredictable those changes were for the people betting on them.
If you visit
Bring your imagination. The railroad has been gone for a century, and the town of Fasken has faded away, so the marker is your main guide. Look out across the flat, wide landscape and picture a single borrowed locomotive pulling one coach across it, with a crew passing the long miles by taking aim at coyotes.
In railroad country like this, traces of an old line sometimes survive as a slight embankment or a straight line across the land. If you spot something like that, enjoy it from public roads, and do not enter private ranch land.
Andrews sits between Midland and Seminole, so this stop fits naturally into a drive through the Permian Basin. It makes a thoughtful contrast with the oil-boom landscape around it: before the derricks and pump jacks came, someone tried to make this country pay with cattle, settlers, and a shoestring railroad.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · David Fasken
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