Passenger Trains > Westbound SWChief on the Blanchard, NM horseshoe

Though there aren't any semaphores west of Wagon Mound, NM anymore, the Glorieta Pass area is still a beautiful place to catch the daily passage of Amtrak's Southwest Chief.  Just west of the siding at Blanchard, NM, the railroad winds its way around a fairly tight horseshoe curve as it drops down to the crossing of the Pecos River at Ribera:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/q13UWP7p7VXKPTi99

It's a long drive on a dirt road to get to the south side of the curve at ground level, and I'm not sure the road is even open to the public anymore, but a parking area off eastbound I-25 makes a great launching point for a drone, and the westbound train blowing for the crossing at Bernal allows ample time to get airborne.  If only we still had York Canyon coal trains or westbound Denver-Barstow mainfests to drape themselves all the way around the curve in shots like these.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/24 21:31 by Evan_Werkema.

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in pic 2 the brown structure is the gate, for was it don imus's property, i think  he spent his last days in texas, at another ranch on 60 minutes i saw

so ,  you can't get past there i think

dan Wrote:

> so ,  you can't get past there i think

The road visible just to the left of the tracks in the third shot is outside the Imus Ranch fence and didn’t require passing that guardhouse. I had heard that it was nevertheless no longer easily accessible but didn’t confirm.

Great stuff, I usually drive past those curves several times a year and always swear I'm gonna stop sometime and explore/shoot the 2 trains. Esp. since they pass through at fairly close times to each other, but of course I never have. Usually driving with the wife and headed to Taos, Angel Fire, SF or wherever. One of these days Alice, lol...

JG

Cool pics, hope 3 and 4 stay this way year round finally!

Beautifully executed Evan!

A lot of pictures taken by people on the train there!  Google actually has a street view up to the ranch gate!
Too bad there isn't better public access, because it's a masterpiece of railroad engineering.

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Nice capture of the Southwest Chief! Beautiful part of this train's route! I believe there's a Superliner coach deadheading, but it would be great if the Southwest Chief can get RESTORED to four Superliner coaches once again - and all LD trains have their previous capacities RESTORED!

These are wonderful shots. Thanks for sharing. 

looks like RFD may have it now

Great photos!  Knowing the area on the ground will really help you get great drone photos!
Regards, Jim Evans

Great series, Evan.  While the drone photos certainly add to familar locations, all my experiences at the Blanchard Horseshoe have been on the ground.  The last time I took any shots there, the Imus gate was up, but there was not that security building behind the gate.  Those were the good old days with hotshot container trains, coal from York Canyon, and even the UP Centennial detours.  And access without really "trespassing" included some ROW access from Blanchard to the location of your final image.  A decade ago that shot vanished because of tree growth; your drone solved that problem!.

Thanks for the great series of images.  Sure brought back some nice memories.

John

mp51w Wrote:
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> A lot of pictures taken by people on the train
> there!  Google actually has a street view up to
> the ranch gate!
> Too bad there isn't better public access, because
> it's a masterpiece of railroad engineering.

Don't think he bought the ranch until shortly he left the airways

Well... good morning to an IOTD! We'll certainly have something extra to talk about today......... ;^)

Lance (Flint Hills tour guide)

And natty hair women

Nice sequence Evan. 

My last visit to the Blanchard curves was in 2019. The dirt road following the ROW was accessible from the east end past Blanchard siding. A high clearance vehicle was all that was necessary and I set up approximately the location of the 3rd photo, at the bottom of the curves. No one bothered me.

Love that old stonework on the bridge abutments...

Evan, great shots.  Thanks for posting!

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4927971,4928090#msg-4928090

RFD may still /a;ways ?own the ranch then, labled on maps that way still

BCHellman Wrote:
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> Nice sequence Evan. 
>
> My last visit to the Blanchard curves was in 2019.
> The dirt road following the ROW was accessible
> from the east end past Blanchard siding. A high
> clearance vehicle was all that was necessary and I
> set up approximately the location of the 3rd
> photo, at the bottom of the curves. No one
> bothered me.

Long lenses can reach the curves from the west side of I25 on a frontage road that is higher than the freeway