Does anyone know or can point me to information about the branch that ran along highway 50 out of Lamar Colorado. The mainline cut straight west to Las Animas, this branch crossed the Arkansas River and then split one going back east to Bristol (the Bristol Branch) the other went west through a bunch of tiny railroad towns (sugar beet loading locations - Kormman, Sugar, Wiley, McClaive, etc.) and a few real towns like Hasty. I can find the track plans in the Sanborn Insurance maps, but what I am looking for is when and how it was operated. I can imagine it was only run in the summer during sugar beet harvest, but were the trains sent out from Lamar or La Junta? Were they sent out as needed or scheduled. Did one train run up this branch to collect the cars and then another send the cars on to the Rocky Ford, Los Animas, or Holly processing plants, or was it the same train picking up and dropping off. Also were main line trains ever detoured that way when the mainline was blocked (such as the 1964 flood). At one time this track reconnected in Holly.
Oh and you don’t need to refer me to the Santa Fe Railroad Historical Society, I’m already a member and engaged there with this question.