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[rjemery]

The Santa Fe in the 1960's and apparently to this day maintains a freight line from Hebron, NM, (near Raton) to Koehler, NM.  At one time, this line reached Colfax, where it crossed the SP Dawson  line, and continued on to Cimarron, where it then branched to both Ute Park and Stern (a placename no longer existing).

• What cargo was carried over this line?
• When did the AT&SF abandon the line west of Koehler?

[nanaimo73]

ATSF abandoned the Koehler Jct to Ute Park and Stern during 1942, according to the map with this article-

The strage story of the El Paso & Southwestern
Trains, February 1966 page 44
part of Southern Pacific
( ARIZONA, EP&SW, HISTORY, MEXICO, "MYRICK, DAVID F.", NEW, SP, TEXAS, TRN )

You may be able to get that issue from  http://www.railpub.com/

I believe the Koehler to Hebron line would have been abandoned between during the 1970s. Coking coal from the Koehler mine was one traffic source. It operated from 1906 until 1966 when the nearby York Canyon mine opened to feed the Fontana, California, steel mill.

[rjemery]

AT&SF abandoned the Koehler Jct to Ute Park and Stern during 1942, according to the map with this article-

The strange story of the El Paso & Southwestern
Trains, February 1966 page 44

I believe the Koehler to Hebron line would have been abandoned between during the 1970s. Coking coal from the Koehler mine was one traffic source. It operated from 1906 until 1966 when the nearby York Canyon mine opened to feed the Fontana, California, steel mill.

Many thanks for that information.  Sometimes map makers keep abandoned lines in their renderings even when the rails have been removed.

You seem to have a wealth of information available to you.  Could you advise when the Socorro to Magdalena spur on the AT&SF stopped being used and when it was finally abandoned?  I know it was active through 1963 at least, and not just to store cattle cars.

[joseph2]

A lot of the information you desire is in the book "New Mexico's Railroads" by David Myrick.

[rjemery]

A lot of the information you desire is in the book "New Mexico's Railroads" by David Myrick.

Yes, and I have asked my library to borrow it on InterLibrary Loan (ILL).  Being in the East, there are few libraries that have it, and the further west one goes for such an ILL, the longer it takes.

[chad thomas]

I haven't seen Myrick's book on NM, but I have his Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California and I would HIGHLY recommend his works. His books are VERY well reasearched and VERY well written.

[mudchicken]

By all means*, get a copy of Myrick's book.

(1) The Dawson railroad (SP/EP&E) abandoned in 1962. ATSF put French to Colfax back in in 1965 and turned at Colfax to go to York Canyon Mine. BNSF put the York Canyon Branch up for abandonment this year (York Canyon/ Cherokee & Pittsburg/Pittsburg & Midway Coal could no longer compete with Powder River coal from the underground mine and the strip mine had wandered too far away from the loading loop at York Canyon to be economical)...Ted Turner bought the ranch and wants the coal operation out of there.

Try finding "CoalTown, Life & Times in Dawson NM" while you look for Myrick's book. Good read.

• NEW MEXICO'S RAILROADS: A Historical Survey
  By David Myrick. Revised edition. Over a century of railroading in New Mexico is captured in over 200 photographs and a crisp text. From a bygone era of narrow gauge to today's Amtrak service, this book covers both the short lines and the branches feeding to mainlines of major railroad systems.
  276 pages, 6 x 9, softbound. $19.95    www.crrm.org
• COAL TOWN

(2) The Koehler Branch (Santa Fe, Rocky Mountain & Eastern) and the connecting spiderweb of branches was all gone by 1967, the wye at Hebron was gone by 1978...Santa Fe was looking at going back up the same alignment as late as 1986 (Santa Fe gave up after that and started selling what it owned up in there). The Cimmarron Branch was gone pre-WW2 that went near Dawson. The Van Houten Branch was gone about 1954 IIRC. The last time I was up in there in 1986, you could hardly find evidence of the Junction at Cimmarron Jcn. where the Cimmaron and Van Houten branches came out. (We lost our bearings up in there more than once locating SFLI property that used to be railroad main track R/W..)

Koehler, Blossburg, Brilliant and Van Houten branches moved coal. You can still see the SLRM&P (Swastika Route)scar running both ways from I-25 at Hebron...

Cimmaron Branch moved some coal, Boy Scouts (Philmont), Lumber and Cattle.