So last week I was driving by Deming N.M. and I thought what looked like a brand new GP9 in the Santa Fe blue/yellow paint scheme. I'm not really good at identifying engines but that what it looked like. It was almost dark and couldn't be sure. I have to drive back a different route so I won't be going back by anytime soon. I didn't know they still painted them that way. If anyone is in that area take a look. Also a lot of rolling stock with some great graffiti.
BNSF does not have any GP9's in that scheme (as far as I know). All the GP9's that survived into BNSF were from the BN. BNSF does have GP9u's which were rebuilt by ATSF. These have chopped short hoods and rebuilt cabs, not the tall hoods that you normally think when you think of a GP9. Many of those units are still in the ATSF 'cub scout' scheme. It is not out of the question to see other locomotives like that, especially older units in yard service. There is also UP trackage in Deming. A third possibility is that it was a short line in a similar or Santa Fe 'heritage' scheme.
Thanks for the info. The only thing is that it looks like it was brand new. It was almost dark but you could tell it was just painted.
I think it may be the Southwestern Railroad (like Hardcoaler linked). It looks to be based in this region of the state. They might have a few different branches or lease units in other parts of the country, the RRPicturearchives page has some photos pretty far from New Mexico. There is that one all-yellow unit, but others are patched ATSF. Some of their GP30s look to be in very good condition: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5008848 The railroad was also mentioned in this Trains article: https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/06/13-western-group-geep-30s They look pretty clean in this photo, so you could have seen a unit like this.
