HISTORY

See the ATSF Industrial Area for a brief discussion of El Paso history.

The SP entered El Paso from the west by crossing over the Rio Grande River on two separate bridges and crossing over the ATSF mainline coming down from Belen, NM.  The SP had several yards and a large engine facility in addition to a number of industrial sidings.   Originally on the west side of town and subsequently moved east of the main yards, the SP had a 4000 foot re-icing platform to service scheduled east bound reefer trains.  All locomotives bound for the West Coast were shopped in El Paso and tested before proceeding to California.

MODELING THE SP INDUSTRIAL AREA

Following the prototype, the SP mainline crosses the Rio Grande, parallels the ATSF mainline, and runs past Smelter Town and Union Depot to Dallas Street Yard and engine facilities.  Union Depot is modeled as two tracks.   In addition to the yard area, part of the re-icing platform requires that inbound reefers be re-iced prior to an eastern departure.  The Swift Meatpacking plant and associated stock yard is also modeled.  Finally, the roundhouse, fueling station and caboose tracks are present.

In the mid-1950’s, the SP ran Trains 39 and 40 which were mail trains with a single (or sometimes two) coach.   Three scheduled fast freights ran eastward and one scheduled fast freight ran westward.  A number of local freights also operated out of El Paso.

It was not unusual to see T&NO and Pacific Lines equipment in El Paso.  Cotton Belt (SSW) engines also showed up from time to time in El Paso.   Even an occasional Rock Island locomotive might appear, having run through from Tucumcari.   Each of these railroads appears during an operating session.