Desert Route. Amtrak 140 (P42DC) leads the Amtrak Southwest Chief (Train 4) through San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico on a broiling hot September 3, 2020. The train is about to pass the last BNSF freight customer for the long stretch between La Junta, Colorado, and Lamy, New Mexico as it proceeds over the Raton Sub, which normally only a daily pair of Amtrak trains. This route has been by operated since opening in the late 1870s by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, but was under threat of elimination until a group of stakeholders across the affected states was put together with federal money to fund the ongoing maintenance of the line.
