Re: Farmington Branch

When I worked for the Farmington Daily Times I wrote some narrow gauge articles in the 1980s. There were a couple of full-page spreads using photos that were on loan from Ernie Robart. Unfortunately I don't remember the dates they ran.
The last run was Aug. 31, 1968 with engine 483 with Don Gibbs at the throttle and Jim Mayer in the caboose. Andy Payne should have gotten the run but he laid off to take pictures. The final trip had 18 cars of drilling mud, two cars of a wallboard and one car of rails. The wallboard arrived in Farmington the second time. H. Merrill Taylor of Farmington lumber refused the shipment when it arrived a few days earlier by Rio Grande Motorway truck.
The Aztec yard had two sidings. Empty cars were taken to Flora Vista and left do to lack of siding space in Aztec. Farmington had a lot of industrial tracks so the crew lost most of its train by time it came into Farmington proper.
Loads were also stored at Cedar Hill and Inca, north of Aztec, until they could be brought into Aztec or Farmington.