New Mexico Railroad History Celebration

The Second Annual N ew Mexico Railroad History Celebration was held at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, in the Railyard District, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. Santa Fe Conservation Trust’s Trails Program Manager was one of the event co-organizers along with Jim and Elizabeth Terhune, Rick Martinez, Tomas Romero of El Museo, Christy Downs of the Railyard Park Conservancy, and Rob Fine of NMDOT. Programming and events relating to historic preservation and trails included:

Rail History Walks Sat. and Sun. morning as part of SFCT’s Vámonos/Santa Fe Walks program, following our newly created Rail History Walk Map and Brochure.
Historic Railways Discussion Panel, Sat., Aug. 31, 1-3 pm, with presentations on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, the Santa Fe Southern Railway, and Philmont Scout Ranch’s “Metcalf Station.”
Historic Rails and Trails Discussion Panel, Sun., Sept. 1, 1-3 pm, with presentation of material on existing and proposed rail trails near Cloudcroft, Capitan, Las Vegas, Raton, and Santa Fe (see links to materials in photo captions below)
La Tierra Trails Chili Line Site Visit and Retracement by Foot or Bike, Sun. Sept. 1, meeting at La Tierra Trails Buckman Motocross Track
Ride the New Mexico Central Railroad – by Bicycle, a magical history cruise on Monday, Sept. 2.

Photos below demonstrate that the celebration was another success, and we hope to continue supporting this event in future years.

John Bush of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and Karl Zeibarth of the Santa Fe Southern Railway, on right, discussed their work to preserve and operate historic and scenic rail lines, Aug. 31

Trevor Lombardi (with microphone) and Tim Gneier of Philmont Scout Ranch’s “Metcalf Station” discuss their work to restore and operate the Ponil Canyon Rail Line, Aug. 31

Philmont Scout Ranch’s Velocipede, which works something like a rowing machine to move along a rail line

Boarding Santa Fe Southern’s train, with the “Speeder” in the foreground

Tomas Romero, Rob Fine, and Jim Terhune put the “Speeder” to bed for the night, Aug. 31

Second Rail History Walk (Sept. 1), walking through the Railway Gardens with Christy Downs, on the path of the New Mexico Central Railroad’s main line (1903-26)

Lynn Melton of the New Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association describes challenges and successes restoring the “Cloud-Climbing Railroad” in the Cloudcroft area, Sept. 1. Presentation.

Mark Gutzman of Lincoln National Forest touches on the fine points of investigating abandoned railbeds east of Capitan NM, Sept. 1

Tim Rogers, SFCT Trails Program Manager & Healthy Kids NM contractor, discusses historic rails and trails in Santa Fe, Las Vegas and Raton, Sept. 1. Presentation.

Emma Green, pictured here at the remains of the roundhouse in the Raton Railyard, spoke on how her public health work with Healthy Kids Colfax County has brought her into the world of rail history, Sept 1. Presentation.