Recently a crew was cutting trees and removing brush near Aztec, New Mexico, and these came to light. Part of the Farmington branch of the DRGW narrow gauge. I suspect these will be torn out by the same crew who discovered them:
It would be fun to see a picture of this when still in service. A "then and now" comparison. Boxcab E50
Can you get a hold of the contractor, and see if they can pull it out for ya'? It would be cool to have that little trestle bent in your backyard or something!
I was thinking it was later than that. Wasn't there traffic on this line into at least the early 1960's? Boxcab E50
Evocative... Reminds me of my railran days as a teenager in Los Angeles, when a friend and I used to go out on Saturdays following the routes of long-abandoned Pacific Electric lines. Back in those days (early 1960s), you could see signs of the old right-of-way everywhere... rails left in place in street crossings, line poles, substations, ties, spikes, tie plates, and a more or less undisturbed empty corridor where the Red Cars used to run. Today, there is hardly a trace left, and you would have to be very knowledgeable to recognize that there was once an interurban line. My favorite example of this is the old Air Line (as it was called) from south Los Angeles to Santa Monica. It is in fact very nearly intact as a right of way, still, and will be used for the next major extension of LA's rapid transit system. Farmington is evocative in another way, directly. A few days ago I read one of the sources cited by Don Strack on the D&RGW in Utah, which cited a source stating that in the early 1900s the D&RGW considered running a (narrow gauge?) line from Farmington toward the Colorado River and over it, headed for "southwestern Utah" (St. George?). Nothing came of the idea, which was insane, probably, but what a line that would have been! I can't help but wonder whether the famous Utah Belt model railroad was inspired by this little-known part of the Rio Grande's history. --Bryan
Now you have me wondering what, if any, other lines were proposed. Does that resource mention any other extensions or branches? Boxcab E50
Additional planned but never built D&RGW line in Utah Yes. I recall from browsing Don's site that there was a plan afoot for some time to build a line from Colton eastward toward Duchesne and the Uintah basin. I haven't seen the source and have no idea what, specifically, was planned. As for the timing, I think it was early 1900s. This was in response, apparently, to the threat that the UP might build into the basin. When the UP dropped its plans, so did the Rio Grande. Accordingly, a potentially significant economic region in Utah received no transportation benefit from standard-gauge railroads. Somewhere, perhaps, there is a sketch of the preliminary engineering work. This would have been a hell of a mountain railroad, gaining at least 1500' to traverse a 9,000 foot ridge before connecting with the various rivers that drain into the Uintah basin. Looking at the beautiful terrain maps available in Google Maps, one wonders why the line would have departed from the main at Colton, only to run into what seems like an insurmountable wall. The idea seems no less insane than building westward from Farmington -- but then again, perhaps neither of these ideas is any more crazy than the lines built across Colorado! --Bryan
