Texas-New Mexico Railway Company- Lea County

By Freda Farr Earnest; collected by Mettie Jordan

            In 1929, the Texas and Pacific Railway Company made the decision to extend its lines into Lea County from Monahans, Texas. My husband, Homer Earnest, a maintenance foreman for the company, was to be the foreman on the new line, so our family moved to Kermit, Texas, and lived in a work car- a box car with its wheels removed and fitted with windows and a door. The windows were so ill fitting that when the sand blew, which was often, our beds and even our faces, would be covered with sand.

            The right-of-way was cleared and a roadbed was constructed to lay the track on. A bridge was built across Monument Draw. On January 1, 1930, three gangs started north from Cheyenne to lay track. Each gang consisted of a foreman, assistant, time keeper and laborers. Living quarters were made up of a car for the foreman, assistant, and time keeper, bunk cars with cots and dining car, and a water car.

            Gang No.1, with Homer as foreman, placed the cross ties on the roadbed, and distributed the bolts, tie plates, and spikes. Gang No.2, with Mr. Hare, foreman, laid the rails on the ties, bolted them together, and spiked them to the cross ties. Gang No.3, filled the track with dirt and dressed the track.

            Rails were thirty - three feet long and weighed seventy-five pounds per foot. Heavier rails have since been laid.

            The laborers were mostly colored men from East Texas and Louisiana and Mexicans from El Paso and Mexico. Those from the east rarely stayed long for they couldn’t stand the blowing sand and were scared of the rattlesnakes. There was a frequent change over in workers.

            After the work train pushed materials to the end of the track, it was unloaded onto push cars pulled by a motor car and moved up the track. Spurs were built alongside the track for the gang cars ad the gang moved up as necessary.

            For awhile we drove from Kermit to the end of the line, picked Homer up and took him home for the weekend. But as the oil boom increased, trucks hauling heavy loads across the sand country between Kermit and Hobbs, caused the caliche top put on the roads to give way, making it almost impossible to drive a passenger car over the sand places, deep chuck holes, and when it rained, water holes. The trucks had to pull cars through many of these places. We decided to move to the work car and live. We put a three quarter bed in the car with cots for the children. There was a coal burning heater, a corner closet, a desk n the wall, and one chair. We ate our meals in the dining car for $30.00 per month. Meals were furnished to the men as part of their wages.

            After the track was finished to Lovington, depots were built in al, Eunice, Hobbs, and Lovington. Houses were built for permanent section crews every eight to ten miles. The section consisted of a foreman’s house and barracks for six to eight men, a water well and storage tank. In Hobbs, the section house was located just east of where of Watson Truck and Supply is now located. We lived there for a year.

            In 1932, we moved to the section house four miles north of Eunice, on the side of Monument Draw. A second bridge had been built across the draw there and it was the highest bridge in Lea County.

            Steam engine 709 pulled the first passenger train into Lea County. Big celebrations were held, both in Hobbs and Lovington. There were speeches and bands and Governor K.C. Dillon rode the train.

            The steam engines required water for the steam. A deep well had been drilled at the Eunice section house and a big wooden water tank erected. A diesel engine was installed in a pump house to pump water to the storage tank, which was kept full at all times. Trains going in both directions would stop and take on water.

            Passenger trains ran for about two years, but as business fell off, they stopped running. They were replaced by a “Street Car” type coach called the “Doodle Bug”. It broke down a lot and di not last long.

            When the Hobbs Air Base was built during World War II, passenger coaches were put back on. Diesel engines took the place of steam engines. Diesel engines, being electric, would have to wait at times after a big rain for the water to run down as they would short out in the deep water. The passenger trains carried many service men, and materials for the air base and other industries in the county. Passenger service was once again stopped when the war was over and the air base shut down.

            With the air base gone and the boom leveling off, and trucks doing a big business, the railroad was hard pressed, and began cutting back. One after the other, sections were closed, lengthening the miles of track for the men who were left to maintain. Section houses were torn down and men were retired or moved to the main line.

            In 1955 we transferred to Lovington, living there for seven years. There had been many accidents and train wrecks over the years, one while we lived in Lovington. There had been a big rain and water was all over the country and going over the tracks. The train crossed a weakened piece of track causing it to slide off the roadbed and turning the train over on its side. Crane cars and work crews came from the main line and with the help of trucks, the cars were righted. After several days, the trains were running again.

            With the closing of the Lovington section, the last house on the line was moved. Homer was the only man left who had started out on the line in 1932. He was made supervisor over the line from Lovington to Monahans. We bought a house and moved to Hobbs.

            By this time the motor cars were gone and the men traveled to work in a cab truck equipped to run on the rails by lowering a set of flange wheels made of metal, be raised to travel on the highway. The men would ride on the highway to a road crossing, get on the track, and work back.

            After fifty-one years, Homer retired from the railroad on June 6, 1967. His job was taken over by Philipi De Lara assistant foreman from Hobbs. The work was carried on from Hobbs for a number of years. Now the men drive to Eunice and work out of there. The cab car is gone and once again motor cars are in use, beginning January1, 1984.

            The freight trains still make still make three round trips a week to Lovington carrying freight gas and oil from Southern Union Famariss Refinery.

            The depot in Hobbs was sold and moved north of town to be made into a residence. The Lovington depot was moved south of Lovington on Highway 18 and made into a supper club, and was destroyed by fire on New Years, 1984.

            A lot of things have come and gone since January 1, 1930 but time marches on. Homer Earnest did leave his foot prints on the sands of time.

     Copyrighted material Printed with Permission of Beth Reed, President, Lea County Genealogy Society  6 June 2008