#newmexico

Southwest, Santa Fe -- December 14th, 2025

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 end more than once, with this being the first time I photographed there back in 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.