#colmor

Return to Colmor

Over the last eighteen months or so I'd been planning a trip to New Mexico to work on a new project on the Great Divide. While the Raton Subdivision (of the ATSF) is quite a bit east of that subject, I made extra time at the end of the trip to hit one of my favorite spots: Colmor.

And more than I few times during the last year, I've pondered a different approach to the semaphores at the east end of the siding at there. I've shot there with a long lens from the south more than once, with this being the first time I photographed there (Colmor 2018).

For a new approach I intended to walk down the tracks from the road crossing to the (compass) north. After driving from Glorieta (see previous post), I figured I'd have enough time to walk the mile—at altitude—and still have half an hour to set up.

Indeed, I had plenty of time. I stood behind my tripod and watched the skies as the weather was quite interesting: a rain storm was skirting by to the south. I was fine with it, thinking this would provide some nice drama—until I saw the lightning. I instantly realized how exposed I was in this treeless landscape and crouched down away from my tripod for a time. I wanted visual interest, but I did not want my body to be super-heated to a temperature of 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, even for a split second. After a period of time I figured I was going to be mostly clear of the danger and returned to my post.

The Southwest Chief eventually showed, pretty much fulfilling what I had held in my mind's eye for months. For me, the money shot is the penultimate one here as the locomotive is largest while one can still see all three of the 100 year old semaphores.

Notes from the Field

I've got a six-page "short take" article in the latest issue of Railroad History (no. 229). The subject is some of the remaining semaphore signals on the Santa Fe Railway in New Mexico; it's a follow-up to my much longer 2019 article in the same publication (no. 221).

Most of the aging semaphore signals of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway have come down in recent years, replaced by modern devices. But eleven of the 100-year old sentinels soldier on with no replacement signals positioned adjacently. My article provides the location of all, images of several, along with the appearance of Amtrak's Southwest Chief, which is the only train on the line currently tripping these ancient implements.

The Land of Enchantment

An eastbound Amtrak Southwest Chief sprints through the ghost town of Colmor, New Mexico, at 79 MPH. A long lens accentuates the rise and fall, as well as the curvature, of the jointed rail line.

The semaphores at the west end of the siding have been replaced by color light signals since I was last here, but a trio still guard the east end. Most of the semaphores, built by the Union Switch & Signal Company a hundred years ago, have come down in the last year or two. The ones still here, at least eleven of them, are the last of their kind operating in the United States.

The name of the town is a portmanteau word—formed by taking three letters from the counties on either side of the border on which the town sits (Colfax and Mora). While not seen in my images, there are some tumbledown structures here and there on either side of the railroad. Several hundred people once lived here.

Semaphores’ Last Stand (3 of 3)

Finally, the last of three posts on the ancient semaphores of the Santa Fe. Once again we see an eastbound Amtrak Southwest Chief rolling between the distinctive signals, this time at the ghost town of Colmor, New Mexico. And once again I’ll cut and paste some history on the content here...

These three signals are some of the last semaphores (eleven, that I know of) still operating in the United States. They are on the original line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in northeast New Mexico.

The reason these ancient signals are still here is due to the Belen Cutoff of the early 19th century. It became the preferred route for nearly all of the traffic on the Santa Fe and successor BNSF. The only train operating on the line currently (beside work trains for maintenance) is this one (each way per day), and so the railroad has been slow to put money into replacements.

However—the semaphores have been coming down incrementally over the last couple of years. This has caused the signals to be some of the most photographed railroad subjects in recent memory (with UP 4014 being the most in my estimation).

This was my final train on this historic line this trip—I hope to make it back out before the signals are extinct entirely.

Colmor, Sans Train

Returning to my earlier posting from Colmor, New Mexico—here are a few shots sans train. How I love this place. [If you missed the one with Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, you can see it here.]

The first photograph shows the relatively new tricolor lights that have supplanted the semaphores at the west end. The second image shows the older type still standing at the east end, and the final image shows the landscape in between.

High Plains Drifter

Colmor Cutoff, Part One

While in northeast portion of New Mexico, I thought I’d check out a railroad that never quite got completely built: Santa Fe’s Colmor Cutoff. These pictures were taken in Mt. Dora, near Clayton.

As part of its sprawling system, the ATSF began a line between Boise City, Oklahoma, and Colmor, New Mexico, practically mirroring the Cimarron Route of the precursor Santa Fe Trail.

This line would be abandoned just 35 miles short of its completion (Colmor), though trains did run on this section prior to being shut down. A route further south would be favored over this one—the Belen Cutoff. Go here for more information on the line above.

Colmor Cutoff, Part Two

Following my previous post, here are some night shots of the remaining bridge abutments of an abandoned Santa Fe rail line near Mt. Dora, New Mexico. I got up prior to four AM as I knew first light would happen at five and sunrise at six. It was only a twenty minute drive from my hotel in Clayton.

Upon the first hint of light in the east, evidence of stars, and the galactic core of the Milky Way, began to fade. This is logical, of course, but in the heat of the moment, frantically trying different compositions and exposures, experimenting with light painting, I did not really notice. The final image here shows the sky with early twilight present and quickly brightening.

Go here for my previous post on the history of the line—and a link to a webpage that helped me understand it.