In the week leading up to April 10, 2010, I caught word of a BNSF Work Train that was scheduled to run over Raton Pass. BNSF has been working with the New Mexico Department of Transportation to sell the line to NMDOT. With BNSF’s Transcon line a few hundred miles south of Raton, the pass is deemed redundant and unnecessary. Consequently, the last of BNSF’s trains were removed from the line over a year ago. BNSF had some cars in storage along various portions of the line, including up the York Canyon Branch. However, all those stored cars were removed by November of 2009.
Not a single BNSF wheel has rolled over the pass; the pass has seen exactly two trains per day since then: Amtrak #3 and #4. The Southwest Chief still runs via Raton Pass, but there is speculation that even that might change at some point in the future. With all this being taken into consideration, I figured it was worth the trip down there as this could possibly be the last BNSF train to ever
run over the pass!
On the evening of Friday, April 9th, my daughters and I loaded up and headed south. We arrived in Trinidad, CO a little after 9pm and checked in to a hotel for the night. Saturday morning, we got up at 6am and headed for the old ATSF Yard. There, we found the work train, sans power. Next, it was off to the old C&S Yard where we came across a sole ES44AC.
The crew for the work train went on duty at 5:30am in La Junta and was bussed over to Trinidad. Even though the line over Raton Pass has two main tracks (on the east side), the plan was to hold the work train at Trinidad until the westbound Southwest Chief passed through.
With a little time to kill, me and the kids found our way to the Twin Peaks Sub. In 2003, directional running started between Pueblo and Amarillo. Southbounds run via the Pueblo and Boise City Subs from Pueblo to La Junta to Amarillo. Northbounds run via the Twin Peaks and Spanish Peaks Subs from Amarillo to Trinidad to La Junta. This is some
I was with Santa Fe’s Engineering Department many…many year ago and have ridden a motor car and walked the track at all of the Santa Fe locations you have photographed.
Then there were four passenger trains plus the fast mail: #'s 17 and 18, the Super Chief; #'s 19 and 20, the Chief; #'s 21 and 22, the El Capitan; #'s 123 and 124, the Grand Canyon and #'s 7 and 8 the fast mail. In the open areas like Levy the semiphores were very good at alerting motor car occupants of approaching trains because you could see the signal from a sunstantial distance and they gave about five miles notice that a train was in the circuit. However, in the mountains like Raton Pass, Shoemaker canyon and west from Las Vegas the sight distance to a semiphore was frequently very short and we relied on motor car indicators. A few close calls for me and a track supervisor acquaintance was killed because he was “too comfortable” on his territory and was hit by #22 at a location he passed by every day.
Thanks for posting those great shots. The photos at Wooten Curve are really special. Never been out to that line, but the background mountains make me want to take a vacation to your state this summer.
Actually BNSF has operated a few jobs on the Raton line within the past yr. These have been a couple of officer spcls and in October, a job was working based from Trinidad west of there for a couple wks as they pulled many stored flats and baretables. Word was about a yr ago there was something like 64000 feet of stored equip between Raton & west of there (location unknown). When Raton shutdown as a home terminal last yr, the jobs now running across there are worked from La Junta. Boards 6 & 8 Would work La Junta- Las Vegas and Albuquerque crews west there. Again any such movements are few and far between but those are the crewv districts in place incase something needs to be moved.