Southwestern Railroad - Carlsbad Subdivision |
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Click here to skip the intro and go directly to the photos.
On Sunday, October 3, 2004, shortline Southwestern Railroad began operating the BNSF
Carlsbad Subdivision (former ATSF, Clovis NM to Carlsbad, plus industrial spurs serving
potash mines east of Carlsbad and east of Loving) under a lease agreement. Customers
include potash mines near Carlsbad, a petroleum refinery in Artesia, and various
feed mills and agricultural-related businesses south of Roswell and also in Portales.
SW's operations on the BNSF Carlsbad Sub began during the week of Sunday, October 3, 2004. I was on vacation in New Mexico
that week, and spent part of the day of Friday, October 8 observing and photographing SW's operations.
Please click any picture below to see a larger image.
Southwestern Railroad - Hurley, NM
The Carlsbad Subdivision is Southwestern's third railroad, and is operated separately
from (and does not directly connect with) its other two, which are based out of
Hurley, New Mexico and Perryton, Texas. SW's Carlsbad operations are based out of
the old Santa Fe depot located east of downtown Carlsbad. There are two yards in Carlsbad: the old yard east
of downtown, and
La Huerta yard located several blocks north and east of downtown on the Carlsbad
Industrial spur. If you're in the area, you're likely to find SW's locomotives at either location.
Other places to check include the towns of Artesia, Roswell,
and Portales.
Locomotives on SW's Carlsbad Subdivision at the time of its early October startup
include: SW 3588, 3776, 3819, and 3910 (all SD40-2s, believed to be ex-UP) and GP40
3134 (unknown heritage). Locomotives SW 9710 and 9964 (GP40s, unknown heritage) and
SW 2601 and 2602 (GP26s, most recently in service on the Cimarron Valley RR) are
scheduled to arrive on the property in early November. BNSF locomotives continue
to operate between Clovis and Carlsbad on the potash "drags" -- unit trains of hoppers
loaded with potash which originate from Carlsbad -- and on occasional unit loaded grain
trains destined to feed mills south of Roswell. A number of other BNSF locomotives were still on the Carlsbad
Subdivision during the transitional period in October.
SW uses radio channel 18
(160.380 MHz).
Southwestern Railroad - Deming Sub
Southwestern Railroad - Shattuck branch
 
Check out the "Carlsbad Mystery Alcos"
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