Railfanning in the
Southwest
by Dave Freshwater
Dailles, New Mexico
One
of the few items I purchased at Chantilly was a copy of Trains’s
Guide to Railroad Hot
Spots. It recommended Dailes, NM, which is southwest of
Albuquerque. So, when I got into town, I headed off in the rental
car to Dailes. Dailes is on the crest of a ridge that trains on the
BNSF TRANSCON have to climb on both sides. It is also the junction
of a line used by trains coming out of Albuquerque and heading west.
(Those headed east travel south along the Rio Grande to Belen and
join the mainline just north of the yard in Belen.) There is an old
water tower and some cantilevered signal masts that add detail to
photos. You travel down a dirt road to get to the location. New
Mexicans call it ranch land, but I call it desert. Take water in
with you if you head to this spot; there is really nothing else
around.
Because
it is on the TRANSCON, there are lots of trains to see. There are no
detectors around to warn you that a train is coming. The grade means
you can hear the approaching trains. But, with the grade on both
sides and sound traveling a long way in the desert, you sometimes
get a REAL advance warning.
The first day I went to this spot, I stayed until nightfall. As I
was headed back up the dirt road, which parallels the line to
Albuquerque for a stretch, Amtrak #3 headed to Los Angeles surprised
me. That got me back to the
spot twice more, to get a picture of the train passing Dailes. After
my second trip, I figured out that the train I saw was several hours
late. When the train is on time, the current schedule has the train
pass through between 6 and 6:30 p.m. The light isn’t perfect but
you can get decent 
photos.
Even if you miss Amtrak, you will be entertained by the BNSF parade.
The longest period without seeing a train at this spot was 1 hour.
The Hot Spots write-up is correct that BNSF holds trains near Dailes
when Amtrak is scheduled. There was an east and west bound train
holding short of the junction when I did photograph Amtrak #3.
