The National Railroad of Mexico (''Ferrocarril Nacional de México'') was one of the primary pre- nationalization railways of Mexico. Incorporated in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in 1880 as the Mexican National Railway (''Ferrocarril Nacional Mexicano''), and headed by General

William Jackson Palmer William Jackson Palmer (September 18, 1836 – March 13, 1909) was an American civil engineer, veteran of the Civil War, industrialist, and philanthropist. During the American Civil War, he was promoted to brevet brigadier general and receive ...

of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, it completed a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

main line from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, United States. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Lar ...

in September 1888 after an 1887 reorganization as the Mexican National ''Railroad''. At its north end, the

Texas Mexican Railway The Texas Mexican Railway was a railroad that operated as a subsidiary of the 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 took control of the Texas ...

, owned since 1883, ran east from Laredo to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

at Corpus Christi; a second Gulf connection was completed in 1905 through a branch from Monterrey to Matamoros. Other branches included a cut-off from Mexico City through Querétaro to

Celaya Celaya (; ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The municipality ...

and an incomplete

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

extension from

Acámbaro Acámbaro is a city and municipality in the southeastern corner of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, on the banks of the Lerma River, and the oldest of the 46 municipalities of Guanajuato. Acámbaro was originally a Purépecha settlement which w ...

Uruapan Uruapan is the second largest city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It is located at the western edge of the Purépecha highlands, just to the east of the Tierra Caliente region. Since the colonial period, it has been an important city economic ...

. (Another piece of the latter, from

Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima. Colima i ...

to Manzanillo, remained with the Mexican National Construction Company, and was acquired by the

Mexican Central Railway The Mexican Central Railway (''Ferrocarril Central Mexicano'') was one of the primary pre-nationalization railways of Mexico. Incorporated in Massachusetts in 1880, it opened the main line in March 1884, linking Mexico City to Ciudad Juárez, ac ...

in 1905.Powell, p. 130) In 1886 the railway commissioned Abel Briquet to take a series of photographs, which provide documentation of the railways at that time.

After reorganisation in 1902

The company was reincorporated again in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in February 1902 as the National Railroad of Mexico, and completed standard-gauging the main line in November 1903. The National subsequently acquired three narrow gauge companies in central Mexico. First it leased the Michoacán and Pacific Railway in 1900, giving it branches from Maravatio to

Zitácuaro Zitácuaro, officially known as Heroica Zitácuaro, is a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name, which lies at the extreme eastern side of Michoacán and bo ...

and

Angangueo Angangueo () is a municipality located in far eastern Michoacán state in central Mexico noted for its history of mining and its location in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The municipal seat is the Mineral de Angangueo. It is located in ...

. In 1903 it acquired the Interoceanic Railway of Mexico, which included a main line from Mexico City to

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

and a number of branches, in exchange for the

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...

gaining control of the National. Finally, in 1906, the Hidalgo and Northeastern Railroad, from Mexico City northeast to Tortugas,

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...

, and Irolo, became part of the National Railroad of Mexico's system.Fred Wilbur Powell
The Railroads of Mexico
Stratford Company (Boston), 1921, pp. 133-135 Manual of Statistics Company (New York)
The Manual of Statistics: Stock Exchange Hand-Book
1908, pp. 210-211 Six years after the government gained control, the properties of the National and Hidalgo and Northeastern were transferred to the

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (better known as N de M and especially in its final years as FNM) was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 (dating from the regime of Porfirio Díaz), a major railroad con ...

(''National Railways of Mexico'') in January 1909. (The Michoacán and Pacific, Interoceanic, and the latter's subsidiaries remained separate companies.) Poor's Manual Company (New York)
Poor's Intermediate Manual of Railroads
1917, pp. 928-946 Following

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

for freight service in the 1990s, the old National Railroad of Mexico, including most of the Interoceanic, formed the majority of Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (now

Kansas City Southern de México Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM), formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM), is a company dedicated to freight transportation using rail in the northeastern part of Mexico. KCSM is fully owned and operated by Kansas City Southern ...

After reorganisation in 1902

See also

References

Further reading