Saw an interesting article over at last nite's Trainnews about some schemes for a new Farmington Branch in NM - this time coming off BNSF near Gallup. Led me to some Google exploring. It wouldn't be cheap, but they probably could do it, just following the highway mostly between Thoreau and Farmington. Couple of substantial hills and rivers in the way of course, and I just don't see how they would get down into town (though as a freight line they could just end up in a yard atop the mesa since the objective is "inland ports" anyway). That Farmington airport must be fun to use - the way it's crammed on top of a mesa it looks like an earthbound aircraft carrier.

Continuing with Googlefanning, I looked for remains of the real Farmington Branch, and found that a fair amount is still in place (though much of it is also under major roads and, in Durango, tons of suburban development - that's a BIG town!). There appear to be two bridges still in place - a truss bridge and a trestle. Hmmm ... trip planning?