Midland & Northwestern Railroad
Midland, Midland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Standard gauge 66-mile line built by David Fasken, Sr., to carry cattle, ranch supplies, passengers. Operated 1916 to 1920 -- critical era of World War I and world starvation aftermath. Linked towns of Fasken, Florey, and Seminole with Texas & Pacific Railway at Midland. At first, operated with locomotive borrowed from T. & P. Train had to stop for pasture gates to be opened. Crew shot coyotes and rattlesnakes. In a breakdown, the passengers were fed, sheltered at Fasken. Work crew slept on the prairie. Floored out in 1920, M. & N. R. was abandoned. Roadbed still is visible.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built by rancher David Fasken to move cattle, supplies, and passengers, this 66-mile standard-gauge line ran from Midland out to the ranch towns of Fasken, Florey, and Seminole from 1916 to 1920. It was a rough-and-ready operation: trains stopped so crews could open pasture gates and shoot coyotes and rattlesnakes, and stranded passengers were sheltered at the ranch during breakdowns. Abandoned in 1920 after just four years, the railroad left a roadbed still visible across the West Texas prairie.
Why it matters
The short-lived Midland & Northwestern captures how private ranch railroads briefly stitched the remote West Texas plains into the national rail network during the World War I era.
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Related people
- · David Fasken, Sr.
Themes & tags
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