BNSF is set to finally sell the Raton line to the state of New Mexico. What will happen to the line; upgrades for passenger/ comuter service, feight traffic by a new shortline such as a WATCO subsidiary?
Probably a ‘Rails to Trails’ purchase.
Commuter is in the works New Mexico has said it wants to expand RoadRunner service.
Probably not.
Future passenger corridor service, future freight service, existing Amtrak service, and BNSF overflow traffic.
The number of freight customers between La Junta and Albuquerque is essentially zero. No reason for there to be a short-line contract operator.
RWM
Speaking of Raton, I might be down by Trinidad, CO over the 4th weekend. Is there much traffic on the line right now apart from Amtrak? Or would my railfanning time be better spent elsewhere in that corner of the world?
My take is that unless there are overflows from the Transcon you will only see Amtrak south of Trinidad.
North you will see the empty coal trains from TX and crew changes just north of Trinidad and 1/4 mile east from I-25.
Pueblo to La Junta and on south on the Boise City Sub is where the most action will be in SE Colorado. I have recently seen five loaded coal trains within a ten mile stretch, east and west of La Junta. Only two were moving, one leaving east from LJ, two parked in LJ waitng orders or crews (I don’t know which) one parked just west from the wye at LJ and one slowly eastbound at Rocky Ford which would obviously have to stop short of the train parked west of the wye.
Also Amtrak # 3 comes through about 8:15 AM and there are occasional manifest trains, some going on the Boise City Sub and both east and westbound manifests between KC and Colo.
Not much in trin anymore.Best bet is like said above go to Lajunta.However I woulnt bypass Trinidad for just some shots. I think they have a yard job.Plus just to get some shots if they ver do tear it up you know. But for action its Lajunta hands down
Thanks everyone for the advice. I’ve definately got some options now. I do like the idea of getting a shot of the Chief through the pass, even if there isn’t much else around. It’s quality, not quantity, right?
While looking at Amtrak’s schedule, I noticed that getting daylight shots of the Southwest Chief through the pass shouldn’t be too hard, provided Amtrak is running somewhere close to on time. Are there any good photo ops on the pass? Sadly, I’ve only been through there once, and I didn’t spend a lot of time in the area as I was headed to the Grand Canyon. Because of that, I really don’t know too much about the lay of the land and where I could potentially get some shots.
Thanks in advance!
- Turner Tipple Curve
- Morley (Ruins including Church)
- Gallinas
- Jansen
- Lower Wootton Double brick & stone arch
- East Portal at Wootton (hike required)
- Keota
- Old Hwy 85 O/P truss bridge on North Side of Raton
When returning from our trip a few weeks ago, we drove up from Trinidad to La Junta on the way home. We saw miles of empty well cars and the Chief.
Thanks, MC!
Took the Chief a couple of months back. Passed mile upon mile of empty wagons on the approach to Trinidad (?) it seemed. Lovely run and well recommended.
Last I heard is BNSF is going keep line open but only for a very limited amount of traffic w/skeleton boards @ Raton. This is the word from the Newton pool guys. There are no shippers between Lamy-Trinidad, so even if the line was dumped, a shortline would not be needed. As for train watching, Trinidad & La Junta both have good traffic amounts. This is the directional running w/sb’s going to TX out of LAJ on the SF & nb’s coming back to TRI on the BN. Lots of coal trains.