Union Pacific's Lordsburg Sub Part 2 [Steins, NM to El Paso and the Morenci Copper Mine]



Rolling across the American Southwest between Tucson and El Paso, The Lordsburg Subdivision has been an integral part of the Sunset Route since its rails were first spiked down in 1880. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we covered the west half of the subdivision through Arizona between Tucson and Steins.

In Part 2, we continue east to El Paso as trains race across desert of southwestern New Mexico and into the Rio Grande Valley.

At Lordsburg, Arizona Eastern’s Clifton Branch provides access to the impressive Morenci Copper Mine. We will visit this fascinating operation complete with its own railroad: the Freeport-McMoRan Industrial. Watch a quintet of non-turbocharged GP38-2’s and dash 3’s battle a five percent ruling grade out of Clifton, Arizona.

Back on the UP main line, heavy stack trains over three miles long sprint across the desert, passing old lava flows and ghost towns. We will visit UP’s busy Santa Teresa Intermodal Facility which first opened in 2014. It is an important hub linking Los Angeles with Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, and Mexico. Finally, we will cross the Rio Grande River into the west Texas town of El Paso.

This program is available on DVD, Blu-ray, Streaming, and Digital Download at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/union-pacifics-lordsburg-subdivision-part-2

0:00 Intro
2:22 Map
5:08 Steins
12:35 Gary
20:43 Lordsburg Junction
27:27 Morenci Copper Mine
1:03:46 Lordsburg
1:08:22 County Line
1:13:49 Demming Junction
1:18:03 Dona
1:22:38 Adin
1:29:53 Lava Flow near Afton
1:33:15 Afton
1:40:45 Lanark
1:42:27 Santa Teresa
1:56:24 Rio Grand Crossing
1:59:47 El Paso

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15 thoughts on “Union Pacific's Lordsburg Sub Part 2 [Steins, NM to El Paso and the Morenci Copper Mine]”

  1. If Part 1 was good, Part 2 was incredible! The segment on Clifton/Morenci… very informative. Being from Las Cruces and now living in southeastern Arizona i know all points in between. And yet I learned so much in this two part series.
    Thank you! Well done.

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  2. I understand why, but it is sometimes disconcerting when the consistency is different in the various locations. In the late '80s, I hauled several loads of copper cathodes from the smelter to El Paso with Swift Transportation.

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  3. Ordered a new custom built desktop computer from HP for a family member, and the shipment originated in Santa Teresa NM. Google 'Foxconn San Jeronimo' for a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about the factory located literally right on the border that makes most of America's desktop and laptop and server computers. No doubt some of those containers offloaded in Santa Teresa are PC parts inbound via Long Beach.

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