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The cloud-climbing railroad to Cloudcroft, New Mexico
Steam locomotives no longer echo in the Sacramento Mountains in New
Mexico. Since 1947, overgrown roadbed and a few trestles were the only
clues that rugged trains once pulled logs and passengers between
Alamogordo and Cloudcroft in Otero County, New Mexico, on the
Cloud-Climbing Route.
In late 1880's, railroads needed ties. Timber resources in the Sacramentos
led Eddy brothers to build the Alamogordo & Sacramento Mountain
Railway, terminating at a Lodge in a town they named Cloudcroft.
In 26 miles, the railroad climbed 4,000 feet along ridges and on trestles.
They added excursion trains to the Lodge at Cloudcroft. After many years
of service, the line was torn up in 1947. The route was abandoned for the
next half-century. Now (2003) plans are to start to use it again as
lanes for hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers.