Western Railroad Discussion > Land of Enchantment 3 - Fort Sumner Sunset

The last of the installment is from the last 30 minutes before sunset last Tuesday at Fort Sumner, NM where BNSF's transcon main crosses the Pecos River. Up until 2016 this was one of the few remaining single-track bottlenecks of the system. As seen in these pictures, having this double track segment in place makes for much more fluid operation.

1) Completely across the bridge, a westbound grain train's DPUs are shoving in Run 8 as the next westbound can be seen approaching Fort Sumner from the east above the power.

2) After having just passed through downtown Fort Sumner (where the former Santa Fe depot still stands), the westbound Q train is starting to lean into the curve that will take it out onto the "old" Pecos River bridge.

3) In full dynamic and at track speed, a HOT eastbound Z train appears and heads for the 'new" span across the river and passed the slowly approaching Q train.

Kyle Rasmussen
Centerville, UT

---

---

---

4) The hot eastbund long gone from the frame, the now accelerating westbound Q leans out of the river crossing and attacks the uphill grade out of the river basin. The rear of the train can be seen just above the power.

5) As the sun is casting it's last light of the day, the last of what was a 6 westbound fleet starts out across the Pecos River. This Alliance-San Bernadino Z train is toting several Amazon Prime trailers of holiday season wares for the west coast.

6) Once again the open scenery of the area allows for the power and rear end to neatly fit into the shot.

 

---

---

---

Wow, nice series! Great light and being able to squeeze the head end in under the rear is always a plus? Thanks for sharing...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Great series, Great light!

Nice shots!  I haven't been there since they put in the new bridge, but I always stop there when I'm doing the Clovis Sub.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX