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Sierra, El Paso & Northeastern

History

Sierra, El Paso & Northeastern Railroad

The Sierra Central Route

History

Route Map of the Sierra Central

Historically, the original railroad was built as the El Paso and Northeastern (EP&NE) Railroad by Charles. B. Eddy, who started constructing the line in 1897.  Eddy’s objective was to link El Paso to the Rock Island Railroad that was heading toward Tucumcari, NM. 

Having reached Alamogordo, NM in 1898, Eddy decided to head in two directions simultaneously.  The EP&NE would continue building north towards Tucumcari.  A second line, named the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain (A&SM) Railroad, started construction in an easterly direction toward Cloudcroft.  The A&SM supplied lumber to support the construction of the EP&NE.  This eastern branchline was completed in 1903.   A saw mill and lumber operation was built in Alamogordo: this operation supplied the ties and lumber needed to continue the northern thrust of the EP&NE.

Early in the 20^th century, the Phelps Dodge Corporation built the El Paso & Southwestern (EP&SW) Railroad across Arizona and New Mexico with an eastern terminus at El Paso.  The railroad was built to support the company’s vast mining and shipping operations.  Because of a strong interest in Eddy’s coal mining operations at Dawson, NM, the Phelps Dodge Corporation purchased the mines and EP&NE railroad in 1905.   Subsequently, in a move to focus on their core business, Phelps Dodge sold their entire railroad operation (EP&NE and EP&SW) to the Southern Pacific in 1924.

Additionally, the original branch of the Sierra Central (SC) Railroad, which runs between Santa Fe and Willard, NM, has a presence on the layout.   Due to interchange and trackage rights over the Santa Fe, Sierra Central and leased motive power and rolling stock can show up in Vaughn from time to time.  

Operating on the Sierra Central 

The Sierra, El Paso & Northeastern Railroad, which is often referred to as the Sierra Central, links El Paso, TX with Vaughn, NM to provide interchange service with Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads.  The time period is 1955 when some steam still existed on the SP. The layout represents the actual portion of the Southern Pacific, i.e. the old EP&NE Railroad.    The towns and industries are prototypical and modeled with reasonable accuracy.

The appearance of Sierra Central equipment coming from Cloudcroft to Alamogordo is a fictitious portion of the layout.  Historically, the operation of the Alamogordo & Sacramento Mountain railroad bringing logs to the lumber and saw mill at Alamogordo ceased in 1947.

Likewise, Seminole (aka Orogrande) had a branch line that extended to Jarilla where CF&I produced high level iron ore.   Several cars are delivered each day to Seminole and are routed west for interchange with the ATSF and Rock Island railroads. 

Rolling Stock and Motive Power

Since it is 1955, a mix of first and second-generation diesels and steam engines can be seen on a given day.  Typical of the era, SP Coast Lines, Texas & New Orleans and Cotton Belt motive power frequented El Paso and it was not unusual to see equipment running north to Tucumcari from all three SP railroads.  By 1955, the SP had dieselized with F3, F7 and GP9 locomotives.  The Santa Fe had aggressively moved from steam to diesel with EMD F3, F7 and GP7/9 locomotives.

Freight rolling stock is almost exclusively 40’ in length or shorter. There are a few

exceptions.  About half of the freight cars are kit-bashed and a few are scratch-built. A number of home road cars also exist. Passenger cars are a mix of Athearn and Walthers plastic heavyweights, old Varney and Walthers metal kits and a string of Ken Kidder brass kits. The cabooses on the Sierra Central are mostly Hallmark brass Katy cabooses of different vintage, each painted in the Sierra Central’s paint scheme. ATSF and SP cabooses also appear during operation: some are brass, but most are Athearn and Walthers products. 

Towns 

All towns on the layout are prototypical and representative of the period with some artistic license.   Some industries had ceased operation prior to 1955.  The following is a list of towns and their industries.

• Vaughn: bulk oil, interchange spots, freight platform, stock pens, station track
• Ancho: Ancho Brick Company (which supplied most of the bricks for rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.
• Capitan: Capitan Mining Company (coal)
• Alamogordo: bulk fuel, coal dealer, freight station, general supply, Southwest Lumber Company, stock pens, Valley Produce Company
• Seminole: stock yard and CF&I ore mine siding
• Smelter Town (ATSF side of El Paso): Rio Grande Cement Company and American Smelting & Refining Company (ASARCO) plant.
• El Paso: El Paso Union Station, Southern Pacific’s Dallas Street Yard, SP freight station, Swift Packing Plant, SP engine facilities

Crew

The Sierra Central is looking to hire on new crewmembers.   In particular, the railroad welcomes anyone who would like to dispatch, which is more challenging on a layout with a smaller amount of real estate than on a larger empire.

Critical prerequisites for joining the company are a love of model railroading, a keen sense of humor, the ability to take an occasional ribbing from management (particularly during operating sessions) and a willingness to follow the rule and regulations specified by the operations department.  Snappy comebacks to management’s ribbing are only allowed if the comment is very clever.  

Sierra Central Construction

Size

The layout exists in two rooms and covers slightly less than 400 sq. ft.   Most of the railroad is located in the “train room.”  The SP Dallas Street Yard and industrial area is located in the crew lounge. 

Track Work

All track work is hand laid on individually stained ties.   Roughly 18,000 ties and 18,000 spikes have been used.  Over 80 scratch built turnouts have been installed, including a lap switch that was built by the great Malcolm Vordenbaum.  Several of Malcolm’s turnouts have also been incorporated into the layout.  Code 70 rail is used exclusively.

Tie spacing is based on prototypical data with different spacing’s on the mainline, active sidings and less used sidings.   Two different tie thicknesses are employed.

Turn Out Control 

Turnouts are controlled by Tortoise switch machines via control panels with bipolar LEDs indicating switch point position.   Frogs are “hot,” i.e. polarity to the frog and switch points are routed through the Tortoise machines.  Where needed, insulators are located 4” from the frog points. 

Train Schedule

The following table lists the trains that will run.   Fast freights and mail trains are scheduled; local freights run as extras.   Unscheduled train movements are controlled by train order and are assigned the lead engine number.

Notes

1.     X703W is an ATSF trains diverted to SP mainline and service the W. El Paso industrial district of Smelter Town which consists of American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) and Rio Grande Cement.

2.     A&SM 51 sets out and picks up cars at Alamogordo.   As a branchline train, it has lowest priority on the railroad and must clear for all superior trains who need to make setouts and pick-ups at Alamogordo.