Let me try and appraoch this from the opposite side of the equation. The reasons to believe the abandonment of the Santa Fe branch was quick and no secret operation occurred are the obvious logical ones. So let me ask the folks who think this may have happened if they have any convincing data to give us a solid reason to believe the government secretly operated a portion of the "Chili Line" during the construction of Los Alamos. Ideally Something more than the History Channel's documentary on Los Alamos, or anonymous sources in the past few years.
A good story is hard to kill. We all like them, but often the reality is not quite as exotic. My own recent experience with this is, alas, standard gauge. Ask anyone in Butte or Anaconda, Montana about the construction of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific. The much repeated story is that Marcus Daly got fed up with the Montana Union raising freight rates on his ore that he shut the mines and smelter down so his employees could build the BA&P. The story was repeated in the June, 1963 issue of Trains Magazine. In reality, the closure happened at a different time, for a different reason: a glut of copper and fears the world price of it would fall. Plenty of contracts and newspaper accounts report on conventional construction by very ordinary railroad contractors. But the story of Daly's miners and smeltermen building the BA&P lives on, doubtless fueled in part by love of a good story, and possibly too many Sean O'Farrells after the day's shift*
As I noted earlier, I am not really surprised by a lack of fan reportage or professional reportage of the scrapping process. At the time a lot of fans were probably more involved with chasing opeating trains than scrap trains. Also, local papers don't often give that much coverage to a project like the scrapping. For comparison, how much regular coverage of the scrapping of the RGS appeared in the Durango Herald? A weekly summary? I doubt it. Same story about the abandonment of the Valley Line, or the Pagosa Springs branch.
As I said earlier, I think I would find it a lot easier to buy the theory of secret operation if someone had something more tangible to suggest it.
*AKA boiler makers elsewhere.
Thanks for reading.
Charlie Mutschler
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