They receive goods and materials for all the merchants and retailers. Even the U. S. Mail for Calico, Texas is received daily at the small freight station. Calico, Texas was once a crew change point for the former SL-SF Frisco Railroad and when the line was sold, the new owners were determine to keep rail service alive to this region. Although Calico, Texas is not on the regular Amtrak passenger routes, the Santa Fe RR occasionally runs specials and excursion passenger service through town. Calico, Texas has been a timber shipping point for many years.
Timber is loaded on waiting rail cars and shipped off to the mills and cut into lumber.
In recent years, oil has been found along the foot of the mountains. As wells are drilled and turned into producers, a new industry is developing. Oil is trucked down from the wells and loaded into rail tank cars for shipment to the refineries in the south. The city's patriarch, who held all the mineral rights, used the royalties to bring new amenities to Calico, Texas. The biggest project to date was the building of a trolley line.