Through Truss Bridge on the Union Pacific Tucumcari Line

You don't see bridges like this much anymore. This one is near Three Rivers, New Mexico

Train Station: Liberal, Kansas

Train station is on the right, hotel on the left. I have never seen a picture of both these buildings in one shot, so I took one using a Canon 50d with a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. It's a touchy lens, but worth getting to know.

(travelks.com) The Rock Island Depot was restored in 1998 and is home to the Liberal Chamber of Commerce. The restored Grier Eating House and Cimarron Hotel house the VA Medical Clinic. The first depot, connected to the Grier Eating House and Cimarron Hotel, was a handsome wooden plank construction. It was destroyed by fire in 1910. The replacement depot, which still stands, was made of stucco plaster. The Chamber building has a collection of railroad memorabilia, which can be viewed during business hours Monday through Friday. Link

"Samson of the Cimarron"

 

People were so proud of this bridge they named it Samson. It's part of a long line of railroad bridges the Rock Island built to span the Cimarron River, just north of Liberal, Kansas. All the previous bridges were washed away. This one, built in 1939, stuck. It's on the Tucumcari Line, now owned by the Union Pacific.

Union Pacific 5515, Cuervo, NM

Union Pacific Railroad MP 590.97

Here's one for all you mile post fans out there, it's MP 590.97, on the Tucumcari Line, at the grade crossing in Nara Visa, New Mexico. Everything is interesting to someone.

Another Great American Route: U.S. 54

Abandoned building along U.S. 54, Nara Visa, New Mexico.

For all it's fame and fun, it shouldn't be forgotten that Route 66 isn't the only vintage U.S. Highway. Another great one, that runs through much of the Southwest is Route 54. Fifty four starts in Illinois, making its way through the Oklahoma Panhandle, the Texas Panhandle, and much of New Mexico, before ending up back in Texas.
There are quite a few towns along the way, both inhabited and not so inhabited, and Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line follows close by. Unlike 66, 54 hasn't been abandoned, so navigation is easy.
One can drive by Dalhart, Texas (Cows!), Nara Visa, NM (ghostish town), Logan (great RR trestle), Tucumcari (of Route 66 fame), Santa Rosa (also of 66 fame), Vaughn (nice vintage mission revival Santa Fe train station), Corona (site of famous alleged alien spaceship crash), Carrizozo (near White Sands) and finally, El Paso, Texas. Along the way, you'll see prairie, desert, more old towns, mesas, antelope, and all the other great things you'd want from a southwestern road trip.

Union Pacific: Logan Trestle

2012: Trains collide on Union Pacific's Tucumcari Line in Oklahoma

(msnbc.com) Two trains collided Sunday near the Oklahoma Panhandle town of Goodwell, sparking a diesel fire and forcing the closure of a stretch of highway. Three people were missing. The accident happened shortly after 10 a.m. on tracks about two miles east of Goodwell. A westbound train consisting of three locomotives and 80 rail cars collided with an eastbound intermodal train consisting of four locomotives and 108 rail cars, Union Pacific Railroad spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza told msnbc.com. Continued