ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Santa Fe steam locomotive No. 2926 returned to the Tractor Brewing Wells Park for public display at the “Tracks, Tunes & Taps!” fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 26. “It performed as well as it could be expected,” said Mathew Casford, chief of rail operations for New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society (DBA New Mexico Heritage Rail) which owns the locomotive. “After our last trip, we had a long punch list of things to rectify between May and last Saturday.”
Much like the first public outing on May 6 [see “News photos: Santa Fe 2926 takes a short trip,” Trains News Wire, May 8, 2023], the massive 4-8-4 was fired up for the 1-mile round trip along the Sawmill Spur from its 8th Street restoration site to the local brewery on 4th Street. Casford looks at these public fundraisers as continual “dress rehearsals” for both the locomotive and crew. “With every event, the goal is to do better than the last.
“Getting everything set up with the NMDOT (New Mexico Department of Transportation) and NMRX (New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter system) was much smoother because we’ve done it before.”
Building support with entities such as NMDOT and Rail Runner is one of the top priorities for New Mexico Heritage Rail. All three parties are currently working on an agreement to have No. 2926 return to the main line in downtown Albuquerque from the spur. According to Casford, a future Rail Safety event is in the works for the locomotive to be headlined. While the original venue plans circled around the Alvarado Transportation Center — a multimodal transit hub for Amtrak’s Southwest Chief and the Rail Runner Express in downtown — concerns about service disruptions led to Rail Runner identifying another location near the Rail Yards Market. “Hopefully we’ll have an announcement soon on our website about the dates and times,” Casford said.
While future operating opportunities continue to be explored for No. 2926, Casford believes the future of a long-term, accessible home for the locomotive and NMHR is bright in downtown. Saturday’s event previewed the non-profit organization’s eye towards relocating to the Rail Yards – a former ATSF facility owned by the city with sections already redeveloped for venue purposes. “We have an agreement with the city to upgrade the yard outside the shops,” including the current restoration of the 1914 turntable as Casford explained. “It is very much a partnership and development that I think is going to last for quite a long time.”
Plans for that relocation are still years away, yet plans for the maintenance on No. 2926 continue. The locomotive has since returned to its current home of 20-plus years with a whole new punch list for both Casford and the NMHR crew to check off. “Between now and the next steam up, we will meticulously go through and address each and every one of those items to get them either fixed or changed so it’s not an issue at the next event.”
For more information, visit the New Mexico Heritage Rail website.
Pushing 90 and still like a full force gale on the rails.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Good to see it steaming even though for short time and distance, here’s hoping to it operating as the folks there plan.