Historic Laredo

the principal shipper of Bermuda onions from
the river bottom farms north and south of
Laredo. The transportation of coal was one of the
railroad’s mainstay cargos from the early 1880s
up to World War I.
Oil exploration in 1921 around Mirando City
and Torrecillas (Oilton), and discoveries near
Corpus Christi, added petroleum to the list of
products the railroad carried.
With its profitability ensured by the steady
growth of South Texas, the acquisition of Tex
Mex was sought on more than one occasion by
the Missouri Pacific.
Under the leadership of president R.W.
Morrison, the railway made railroad history
when it converted all its locomotives to diesel
electric in 1939, setting the precedent for the
rest of the industry. The Texas Mexican’s traditional
roundhouse was replaced by a modern
machine shop geared to diesel engines.
Facing competition from highway transportation
after World War II, the Texas Mexican
Railway changed to meet new challenges. A drop
in cattle shipments was replaced with shipments
of cotton, grain, beans, auto engines, and goods
used for manufacturing. In 1950, the Tex Mex
manifests showed that the railroad had shipped
$1.7 million in manufactured items; $367,000
for mining products; and $9,000 for cattle.
When the railway celebrated its 100th birthday
in 1975, almost 90% of the Tex Mex’s rails
had been replaced or upgraded over the last 25
years. The Piggy Back System (trailers atop flat
cars) came on line. The agricultural packing
sheds of the early days of the railroad were
replaced with the warehouses and offices of U.S.
customs brokers. In 1980, the Tex Mex opened a
30-acre industrial part east of Laredo on Loop 20.
The Mexican government sold the Tex Mex
line in November 1982 to Transportación
Marítima Mexicana, which sold 49% of the railway
to Kansas City Southern in 1995.
The major export to Mexico in the late 1970s
was grain. Exports from Mexico were scrap
metal, cotton clothing, baling twine, ore, zinc,
lead, sheet metal, cement brick, basketry, coffee,
tobacco, fruit and vegetables.
Referred to as Lott’s folly in its early days, the
Texas Mexican Railway has enjoyed 125 years of
prosperity while providing vital transportation
and shipping services to South Texas.
WITHSTANDING REVOLUTION,
WAR, & PESO DEVALUATIONS,
SAMES MOTOR COMPANY MOVES
ALONG THE CENTURY MARK
“We’ve grown with Laredo,” said Hank Sames
III of Sames Motor Company, the Ford dealership
which was established in 1910 by his greatgrandfather
William J. Sames and partner James
Moore. “The business really has grown as the
town has grown.”
“I feel real privileged and honored,” Sames
said of running the company his great-grandfather
started. “It’s a lot of responsibility to keep it
going. They survived many downturns—World
War I, World War II, peso devaluations, the
Mexican Revolution, more peso devaluations, the
boom and bust cycles of natural gas exploration...”—
during which Sames says the business
was at times shut down, except for the service
department which remained operational.
“They survived all that, so I feel like it’s my
❖
Sames Motor Company which has
operated in Laredo since 1910, had its
beginnings as the Laredo Auto Sales
Company, which was established by
William J. Sames and James Moore.
Ford vehicles were originally sent to
Laredo unassembled.
COURTESY OF HANK SAMES III
Chapter IV ✦ 35