This abandoned route was originally built by the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad (KCM&O) around 1908 as part of Arthur Stilwell's line to Topolobampo, Mexico, the port on the Pacific Ocean closest to Kansas City. The line only made it as far south as Sonora, Texas, however.
It was purchased by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in the 1920s, and the section of line between Chillicothe and Sweetwater was evidently abandoned in the 1990s.