Serving the High Plains

Railroad Days draws more than 800

link Visitors both young and old enjoyed watching the model train operated by the ASHOME Model Train Club out of Albuquerque Saturday at the Tucumcari Railroad Days event. Additional photos on page 13.

Thomas Garcia

QCS Senior Writer

The inaugural Tucumcari Rail Road Days attracted over 800 people to the Tucumcari Train Depot last weekend.

“I am truly pleased with how the event was received, not just by the tourists who came to the event, but by residents of Tucumcari and Quay County,” said Frank Turner, chairman of the Tucumcari Railroad Museum Board.

Turner said the event was a success on a busy weekend that also included a college rodeo, block party and museum event.

“I am so appreciative to the coordinators and promoters of those other events who encouraged their guests to come out to the Train Depot,” Turner said.

Turner said it showed a real sense of community togetherness for each of the events to promote the other.

Turner said the depot attracted people from as far away as Brooklyn, New York, and Hawaii in addition to locals.

Jerry Hanks of Clovis said he and his wife worked for the Old North Central Railroad in Chicago, Illinois, and read about the event in the newspaper.

“We just wanted to come down and see what the railroad museum had to offer,” Hanks said.

Turner said the interest in the museum was shared by those reached by their national advertisement and local residents who had former ties with the railroad themselves or they or one of their relatives worked on the railroad in Tucumcari.

“I grew up here in Tucumcari when the railroad was very active,” said Bill Shay, Tucumcari resident.

Shay said his father ran a restaurant that serviced the railroad workers and he can remember when everything went on downtown in Tucumcari.

The two-day event featured static displays of historical items used by the railroad industry, two major model rail clubs coming from Albuquerque, and had model train sets in both the east and west wing of the train depot. On Saturday, 45 people attended a dinner that featured a presentation by Vern Glover, a leading historian of the El Paso/Southwestern Railroads.

“One of the amazing things about the railroad in New Mexico is that it was built in a couple of years, hundreds of miles of railroad laid in a short amount of time to drive the mining industry,” Glover said.

Glover said there are many historical facts and important historical points connected to the railroad industry that passed through Tucumcari. He said Tucumcari was one of the main points as trains passed to El Paso, Texas, and Kansas City, Kansas.

“There was a railroad line that went to the mines in Dawson that included a passenger car,” Glover said. “One interesting fact and mystery is to the origins of the name of the passenger car ‘Polly.’ No one knows just how the car got its name.”

Turner said with the success they had they are already looking forward to improving and expanding the event for next year. He said the board’s next step will be to get volunteers to work the museum for the spring tourist season.

Turner said he would also like to contact the schools and bring in classes to the depot to educate them on the history of the railroad in Tucumcari and New Mexico.

 
 
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