Las Animas Jct., Colo.-Albuquerque
April 17, 2015

by Dave Ingles

First photo of Friday morning was this 2-unit DPU on a southbound coal train on the old Santa Fe main line west of Las Animas Jct. at 915 a.m Mountain Time.

It's not only the semaphores we'd see in a few hours that are being replaced, as this setup for replacing the searchlight signals at the east end of La Junta yard proves. The La Junta-Las Animas Jct. portion of the Chief's route is busy with directional Powder River Basin coal trains (southbound loads, from Pueblo to Amarillo). There was not much in the La Junta yard, but one of the crew stepped to the ground (the three PV's, Sierra Hotel ahead of our two, did not "make the station platform") for this "proof I was there" photo of the Caritas rear platform during the smoking and crew-change stop. I'm on the left, then Reg Mitchell, then a guest from I think Nona Hill's family, then Phil Moser at the right.

Here we go around the curve out of La Junta at 930 a.m, passing the park on the left where a Santa Fe 2-6-2 had been displayed; it has been moved a short distance away.

Here's an advantage of riding the rear open platform on Amtrak. West of Jansen as we begin the ascent of Raton Pass, I spotted this old Santa Fe signal gantry; it's almost 11 a.m and we are 10 minutes beyond Trinidad, running 1 hour 20 minutes late. Amtrak is the only user on this part of the route.

In the shade we see evidence of snow along the track; it's cold enough to need a lined jacket, and the Denver area got socked by several inches of snow the night before.

It was cold enough, with no other trains to see, to chase me inside, so I got half-baked verticals of the two Raton Pass signs from old Santa Fe days, kept up by folks who care.

And there is plenty of snow by the tunnel’s west portal!

Enjoying the rear platform for semaphores, the first ones appear at MP 717 (from Kansas City), approaching Levy siding. Although some blades obviously are on borrowed time, this is not true for all, and since this trackage is only used by the two Southwest Chiefs, replacement is not a high priority for BNSF, which still owns the New Mexico segment down to Lamy after the state backed out of a purchase deal.

The sign says it all: “WSS LEVY” (west siding switch).

Next is Wagon Mound, MP 725, and the first evidence of looming replacement.

This truss bridge spans the Mora River at MP 748-plus.

Next is Watrous, the town being at MP 750 and we going through at 1:22 pm.

The fresh air resulted in “nap time” in my roomette 6, so the S-curves after Blanchard (MP 794) had to be shot thru my window; at least I woke up in time. Time here: 2:23 pm.

At Glorieta, we eased into the siding to meet #4 at 3 p.m, and waited only 6 minutes for him to appear – with Heritage 184 in the lead, 189 trailing. The last frame shows a desert rat – no wait, it’s Rick Moser and our ABQ rental car – wasting some pixels on Caritas platform riders.

As we left Lamy at 3:40, 1:06 late, I spotted this Santa Fe Southern equipment parked on their lead track. The short line is presently inactive.

At Bernalillo, we held 20 minutes to meet this Santa Fe-bound New Mexico Rail Runner commuter train, which is leaving the downtown Bernalillo station platform at 4:54.

We arrived ABQ at 5:12 p.m, 1 hour 17 minutes late, pulling directly into an extra track east of the two main tracks, where the three PVs would be uncoupled. The Chief loaded right there, and I made a few shots of our PVs and the next northbound Rail Runner coming thru before limping out to the rental car with Rick and Phil Moser (who was on the train with me, and kindly carried my bags). We overnighted at a Hilton Doubletree hotel about 6 blocks from the station, and would spend the next day, a “free” one to enable the AAPRCO special to be assembled for its Sunday morning departure, photographing on the BNSF “Transcon” main line around Belen  (see next file).

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