Narrow Gauge Along the Chili Line

A brief history of the “Chili Line”.

The “Chili Line” was a three foot narrow gauge (track that measures less between the rails than standard gauge which is 4 feet, 8 and a half inches) which according to the timetable, ran from Antonito, CO to Santa Fe, NM.  It was officially known by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) as the Santa Fe Branch.

 Veta Pass (Las Veta Pass), Costilla County, Colorado.

The Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) was founded by William Jackson Palmer in 1870.  His plan was to create a railroad that extended from Denver to Mexico City, running North-South instead of East-West as most railroads in the United States.  To accomplish this he established the D&RG in the United States and the Ferrocarril Nacional Mexicano (Mexican National Railroad) in Mexico.  The plan was to have the D&RG parallel the front range of the Rockies from Denver to Colorado Springs, south to Pueblo, Trinidad and then over the Raton pass into New Mexico.  The only problem was that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) beat the D&RGW people to Raton pass by a day and ATSF secured the right of way.  With the Raton pass lost, the D&RG turned West through Veta Pass to the San Luis Valley and the Rio Grande River.  The goal was to follow the Rio Grande to El Paso del Norte (El Paso, TX) where they would enter Mexico.

After entering the San Luis Valley, the D&RG stopped their southern push and moved to the Royal Gorge where a major fight with the ATSF was going on.  Both railroads were trying to get to Leadville and the best path was through the Royal Gorge.  This led to the Royal Gorge war and was not settled until the signing of the “Treaty of Boston” also known as the “Tripartite Agreement” in March of 1880, in which the ATSF agreed to stay out of western Colorado and the D&RGW would not go further south than 60 miles south of Conejos, CO (a village in the San Luis Valley close to the Colorado, New Mexico state line).  The agreement was to last 10 years and put a stop to the D&RG plans for going to Mexico City.

 Canon Diablo on the Chili Line in Santa Fe County, New Mexico

The D&RG however did continue the line from Antonito, CO south as far as they could go into New Mexico and the end of rail was established at what would become Espanola, NM.  One of the ways the railroad made money was to establish new towns and sale lots.  Since the D&RG could not come to an agreement with Riverside and Fairview they created Espanola, NM and began selling lots.  This did not set well with the residents of Santa Fe.  This was understandable since despite their name, ATSF had decided to bypass Santa Fe due to the mountains and have the mainline go south of the town with only a branch from Lamy, NM to connecting Santa Fe to the railroad.  With only about a 37 mile gap between Santa Fe and Espanola, it was decided that if the D&RG could not come to Santa Fe, then Santa Fe would fill the gap itself.  Thus, the Texas, Santa Fe and Northern Railroad (TSF&N) was formed to fill that gap.  The TSF&N face and several problems:  First although that the D&RG had done some surveying and grading work toward Santa Fe, it would not allow the TSF&N to use it since this might be a violation of the “Treaty of Boston”.  Second, the TSF&N like many other railroads of that time period suffered from financial problems.  Six years would go by before the TSF&N was sold to someone that could do something with it, “General” L. M. Meily.  Work again started on the link between Santa Fe and Espanola and the first rails were laid at Santa Fe on October 21, 1886.  On the night of January 8^th, 1887, “ Meily with four blows drove the last spike into the tie completing the link from Santa Fe to Espanola.   The line between Santa Fe and Espanola would have a few more changes.  In 1889 it become part of the D&RG.

  Espanola’s Depot around 1919.

In 1881 the D&RG surveyed and partly graded a line from north of Espanola up the Rio Chama, through El Vado, and Trierra Amarilla, NM to join up with the San Juan extension at Chama.  In 1887 this line came up again this time in the Santa Fe newspaper the “New Mexican” when an attorney for the D&RG stated they would be busy with building this line from Santa Fe to Chama and would cause Santa Fe to really boom.  Nothing became of the line.

 View of a cemetery near Santa Fe, New Mexico.  A William Henry Jackson photograph, between 1882 and 1900.

There were only a few branches on the “Chili Line”.  There was a branch near Tres Piedras, built around 1888 known as Stewart Junction (first to the south of the Tres Piedras from 1888 to 1890, and then north of Tres Piedras from 1890 to 1892).  This Junction was short (only 2 miles) and served the Stewart Lumber Company.  Another branch on the “Chili Line” was for the Hallack and Howard Lumber Company which had a mill at La Madera, NM and ran for more than 16 miles from near Taos Junction.  It was built in 1914 and abandoned in 1932.

Santa Fe would get another railroad into their fair city in 1903 with the coming of the New Mexico Central Railway.  It was a standard gauge line that went from Torrance, NM to Santa Fe, NM.  It affected the D&RG in that they went in together to construct a new brick Union Depot (the one that would become just the depot for the D&RGW) and a four rail turntable that would support both Standard and Narrow Gauge engines.  Also much of the three rail track in Santa Fe belonged to the two railroads.

 Denver and Rio Grande engine on trestle in front of Guadalupe Church, Santa Fe, NM.

Like many railroads, the “Chili Line” took a major hit in its revenues during the great depression.  By the late 1930s the line was being run at a loss.  The D&RGW filed for abandonment in 1939.  The ICC started hearings in the 1940 but abandonment was not granted until 1941.  There was one incident in November, 1940 that almost saved the “Chili Line” from abandonment and showed that it was still needed.  A major snow storm stranded a large number of sheep around the Mount San Antonio.  Highways in the area were closed by the storm but the “Chili Line”, with the use of a rotary plow, was able to get to the sheep and rescue them.  It took a total of 90 cars to get all of the sheep out of the area.  Still it was not enough to show that the “Chili Line” was still needed.  On Monday morning of September 1, 1941 the last revenue training left Santa Fe, NM.  At 5:33 p.m. the ride ended at Antonito, CO.  When he stepped off the train, conductor Willis was reported to say “I’m damned glad to get off that danged rattletrap.”  It was also reported by some of the newspapers that said conductor had tears in his eyes when he said it.