The Bond Street crossing in Wagon Mound, NM was a very cluttered place at the turn of this century. Railroad hardware installed much earlier in the 20th century barely made it into the 21st. This included the upper quadrant-style magnetic flagman or "wig-wag" crossing signal and the semaphore protecting the west end of Wagon Mound siding. The magnetic flagman is long gone. I believe it was replaced within a year or so of this photo. The semaphores lasted a bit longer but were eventually replaced. Those protecting the east end of this siding remain in use as of 2024. Of course, traffic patterns have also changed a lot in the last 24 years. In 2000 BNSF still ran freight trains over the Raton Subdivision. Today only two trains ply this route daily, Amtrak's east and westbound Southwest Chiefs. The westbound Chief seen here also dates the image, not only in the paint schemes worn by the P42s, but also by the fact that four of them were needed to handle the combined passenger and express/freight traffic that Amtrak was dealing with at the time.
Huge Album that Includes over 2,600+ photos of classic passenger trains across USA & Canada before and during the time of Amtrak & VIA Rail. More Images will be Added.
