| Southern Pacific Railroad | ||
| Docket: 21591 | 5/8/1961 | Section: 1(18) |
| Appl. for auth. to aband. the Roy Branch, Rio Grande Div'n., from Tucumcari, and the end of that branch line at French, a distance of approx. 114.070 mi., together with sidings, spur tracks and appurtenances., all in Quay, SanMiguel, Harding and Colfax Counties, New Mexico. | ||
| Length: 114.070 miles | Citation: | |
This line is still intact and continues westward for many miles up the Vermejo River valley and terminates at the old York Canyon coal mine. This line was once abandoned and removed with the closing of the mines at Dawson, NM (site of the second worst coal mining disaster in US history in 1913). When the York Canyon mine was opened, the rail was reconstructed. That mine, too, has been closed.
The mine was closed in 2002, The property was subsequently sold to Ted Turner. He runs his Bison on it now.
I sent some digital photos of the old railroad grade at Mosquero, NM and where the grade crosses US56 near Taylor Springs, NM east of Springer, NM.
My maternal great Grandfather Albert Gray was the depot agent in Roy. I don't remember my great grandparents, but I was told in the early 1960's I rode "The Polly" to from Roy to Tucumcari.