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Thursday, November 15, 2001
It lives!
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So, what's been keeping me so busy? In August, my daughter started Kindergarten and my wife started back to work. The party,
as they say, is over (at least for the foreseeable future) around my house. Then in September, my friend and co-worker Keith Buckley
graciously loaned me his slide scanner for a couple months, and I feverishly began scanning large quantities of slides for use on this,
and another (as yet, still under development) railroad-related website. Slide scanning is extremely time consuming, but the price was
right, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity, even at the expense of keeping this site up-to-date. Expect to see some new photos
posted here after I return Keith's scanner.
Well, where to begin? It's been a grueling couple of months. I knew I was slacking when I started getting emails containing
messages such as, "Hey, loser -- if you're still running this pathetic excuse for a website, how about an update?"
Well, all in due time, my friends. I AM the father of 2 kids AND my wife and I both work full-time jobs, remember? ;-)
Let's try to catch up on some news, shall we? On September 8, 2001, BNSF sold 56 miles of its Deming Subdivision to the
Hurley, New Mexico-based Southwestern Railroad. Southwestern already operated approximately 64 miles of trackage in the
Hurley and Whitewater areas; the September 8 transaction nearly doubled its track mileage within the state of New Mexico.
Under BNSF, the Deming Sub hosted a 6-day-a-week local between Deming and Rincon (where the Deming Sub connected
with the BNSF El Paso Sub). Local traffic on the line was mostly copper-related traffic moving to and from the copper-rich
mountain country near Hurley. Additionally, a BNSF coal train -- destined for a power plant at Cochise, Arizona -- traversed
the line a couple of times per week. At Deming, BNSF turned this train over to a UP crew, which handled the train to its
destination in southeastern Arizona. Now that Southwestern operates the line, little has changed except for the crews
and locomotives handling the switching on the local. The BNSF coal trains still operate, but they are now operated by
Southwestern crews between the BNSF connection at Rincon and the UP connection in Deming.
Also concerning the Southwestern, on October 23, 2001, copper producer Phelps-Dodge announced plans to shut down its open pit
copper mine at Chino, New Mexico, and also the copper smelter in Hurley. Phelps-Dodge expected both the mine and the smelter to
be closed for an "indefinite" period of time. The closures will be devastating to the area's local economy, as over 600 workers
will lose their jobs. The Southwestern Railroad will likely see a dramatic downturn in traffic as well. Fortunately, the open pit copper
mine at Tyrone, west of Hurley, will remain in operation, at least for now.
Also, I spent about half the month of October on vacation, taking two different out-of-town trips. The first was a trip to South Padre
Island, where we spent an amazingly tranquil 4 days on Texas' finest (and practically deserted, thanks to the September causeway
accident that heavily damaged the only bridge linking South Padre Island with the Texas "mainland" at Port Isabel) seashore.
I didn't snap a single frame of film on trains during that entire trip, and to be honest, that suited me just fine. We did, however, see a
multitude of trains on the UP line between Victoria and Corpus Christi. Traffic appeared to be about evenly split between UP, BNSF,
and TM/TFM.
I made up for the lack of photography on the Padre trip a week later when we left on a trip to New Mexico. Suffice to say, the
opportunities to expend film were numerous. I had to replenish my film -- TWICE -- while on the road! During the eight-day trip,
I covered (in four days of shooting) Amarillo, Clovis, El Paso, Las Cruces, Deming, Hurley, Rincon, Socorro, and the east end
of Abo Canyon. I posted a detailed trip report on Trainorders.com. Check it out at the following link if you get a chance:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?f=5&i=1381&t=1381
Thanks for your patience, everyone... watch this site in the coming weeks and months for some new material and also an important
announcement regarding a new project I've been working on. Updates might be a little slow through the holiday season,
but hopefully, they'll pick up during the new year. Thanks again, and keep those cards and letters (and e-mails) coming!
WSC
