The city of Alamogordo was founded in June 1898, when the EP& NE Railroad extended its mainline through the town. Charles B. Eddy, president of the railroad, influenced the design of the community, which included large wide thoroughfares and tree-lined irrigation canals. Charles Eddy's brother, John Arthur Eddy, named the new city Alamogordo ("large cottonwood" or "fat cottonwood" in Spanish) after a grove of large cottonwood trees, remembered from the Pecos River area. While under Eddy’s control, the headquarters for the EP&NE were located in Alamogordo.

In its early years, Alamogordo was important as a source of timber for the construction of the EP&NE. A branchline, incorporated as the Alamogordo & Sacramento Mountain (A&SM) Railroad, was built to Cloudcroft, NM in order to harvest the vast local forests as well as mineral deposits. A large lumber mill and tie plant, Southwestern Lumber Company, was built in the town by the Eddy brothers.

MODELING ALAMOGORDO IN 1955

Alamogordo is the largest town along the layout’s mainline, being about 90 miles east (north) of El Paso. In addition to the Southwestern Lumber Company sidings, another industry is Valley Produce, which shipped fresh fruits and vegetables in iced refrigerator cars. Other industries include a bulk fuel oil facility, a dry produce loading dock, a local coal company and stock pens. Alamogordo is also the western terminus of the logging branchline, which appears from a hidden staging track.

The town is served by numerous trains that switch the local industries. One daily A&SM turn operates during the session to bring logs to the lumber company and depart with empty log cars.

The town has two passing sidings in addition to the mainline which must be kept clear at all times. Crews are able to leave parts of their trains on the sidings, but must keep all of their set-outs with the engine in order to allow for the arrival of a second train as well as keeping the mainline track clear.