BN Oly Wrote:
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> I just completed a whirlwind trip through southern
> New Mexico on I-10. No stops for railfanning, but
> I was curious about the branch line west of
> Deming, NM that crosses over I-10 and runs to the
> south. Looking at the weeds between the rails and
> the google earth images the line appears embargoed
> or abandoned. What is the heritage of this line?
> It doesn't show on any SP maps I can find.

If what you're referring to is the line heading south from Separ (about 40 miles west of Deming and about 20 miles east of Lordsburg), it's the old Phelps-Dodge company railroad that ran to the old smelter in the Hatchita area. The smelter was closed a number of years ago (10-15, maybe longer; I can't remember) and removed, but at least some of the railroad is apparently still in place. Last I heard, Iowa Pacific was marketing some of the track in the Separ area for car storage.

> Also, I noticed several branches radiating north
> out of Deming. What are the current operations on
> this?

It's the Southwestern Railroad. They operate a number of ex-Santa Fe branch lines north and east of Deming. You can probably Google them to find more info.

> Lastly, on SP map I found showed a line running
> from east of Tucson, parallel to the sunset line
> rejoining near El Paso (map is on wikipedia) Is
> this map an error? I don't see any traces of that
> line on todays maps.

It was the El Paso & Southwestern. Originally a Phelps-Dodge property, it was acquired by Southern Pacific. It was known on the SP's Tucson Division as the "South Line," the "North Line" being the line that's still in place today that more-or-less parallels I-10. The portion from Anapra, NM (just west of El Paso) to Douglas, AZ was abandoned around 1963 and removed. When I was last in the area east of Douglas in the Seventies, the highway overpasses over the abandoned were still in place. I'm sure you can find more info about the EP&SW by Googling it.