12/4/2011 Update

This page is being created for the 2012 International Convention being held in Temple. Santa Fe fans driving from the west will find this helpful on their drive to Temple. A good map or Google Earth will help you find everything. The track chart of the Slaton Sub, Sweetwater, and the Lampasas Sub, can be downloaded from this site.

If driving south on US 84 from Lubbock, we will start at Slaton where the Harvey House is preserved with a wood side caboose beside it. 2-6-2 1809 sits a few blocks away in the town square. On the south side of town is the interchange with the South Plains Lamesa Railroad that operates storage on 4 miles of track.

Buenos is argueably the most photogenic location on the line. It is 1.25 miles east of US 84 about halfway between Slaton and Post on FM 211. A few miles south of the 211/84 intersection, look for CR 2282. A few hundred yard off the 84 on 2282 is a brick Santa Fe pumphouse. It pumped water several miles east to fill hungry steamers.

Post and Snyder have identical depots remaining. In Post it is 3 blocks east of US 84 at the end of E. 8th St. The track will parallel US 84 south with some potentially nice shots including some good deck girder bridges.

At Justiceburg you will find a section house on the west side of the tracks.

When you get to Snyder, take the TX 208/FM 1231 exit into town. The Depot is located at the tracks 1/2 mile ahead. There is also a section house

The Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific used to come to Snyder as well, but you will have to go down to Rosoe to find what's left of it. However they did leave a depot behind at 1616 25th St./US 84 Business and also left 2-6-2 #5 behind on the grounds of the Scurry Country Coliseum, at the junction of US 84 Business and FM 1605.

Back on US 84 the ATSF will parallel to Hermleigh and then be impossible to chase easily until south of Abilene.

Stay on US 84 to the northern outkits of Roscoe then take the old road that parallels the right-of-way to what is left of the RS&P. You will see lines of freight cars to tell you you are there. The RS&P is a car repair facility now, interchanging with the UP (former TP) in town. The former RS&P main location is just east of the road crossing in town. Proceed to I-20 and head to Sweetwater. Take Business I-20/Loop 432 into town.

Sweetwater was once a meca for Santa Fe fans, but little remains today. The KCM&O cross the ATSF just west of the yard and came down through town and under the highway (this is old US 80) and under the T&P. In the 70s the T&P line saw maybe one train a day each way, but now the UP has it booming with business. The ATSF yard is on the northside of town (accessed via Hwy 70) and the yard office once served as the most recent depot. The original depot looked like those at Snyder and Post. The rest of the facilities in Sweetwater exist in memory only. A good eye can see the location of the old roundhouse on Google Earth at 32*o29'48.47"N x 100*24'16.59'"W. The remains of a SFRD ice reefer stands behind the Purina outlet, west of the courthouse.

Just east of town the BNSF and UP tracks parallel briefly at Tacific. A crossover here allow BNSF trains access to the straight UP track to Fort Worth.

From Sweetwater the track runs diagonally through the countryside making railfanning difficult. You are best taking I-20 to Abilene (45 miles) and then cutting south to Buffalo Gap. On the way you will go through Trent. Take the old road parallel of the track and on the north side of the highway before you get to the center of town you will see a wood depot painted red. We assume it to be the old T&P Trent depot. Next in Tye, on the westbound feeder (north side of I-20, just before the road splits for Abilene, there is an alternator business that has an old heavyweight Missouri Pacific coach in its lot.

If you have time to spare, go into the heart of downtown Abilene to see the restored T&P depot and freight depot. They are classy buildings on N. 1st street - you can't miss them. While in town, head to S. 2nd and Locust, just a few blocks away, to see the CB&Q depot. 3 blocks west of there is Southern Switching short line. Across 83/84 from the Abilene Mall (Buffalo Gap Rd) you will see Shenanagan's club. It used to be an ATSF depot, possibly from Lawn. Then go back to S. 1st and Sayles Blvd. to head south to Buffalo Gap, or head south on the road by Southern Switching, US-83/84/S. Treadaway and head south to Lawn.

It's a long way away, but Baird was a division proint on the T&P, and the preserved depot is beautiful.

In Buffalo Gap, the original Santa Fe water tower is used for the city water supply. The Buffalo Gap Historical Village has a few railroad items including a Golden Glow headlight and the T&P Depot from Clyde, TX.

Get over on US 84 and continue south. At Lawn there is a building preserved that has a Santa Fe look to it, possibly part of the depot.. Just before you get to Novice, the highway and railroad go over Jim Ned Creek, and the railroad bridge is quite impressive.

Continuing south, Coleman has several relics. The depot serves as the local police station. There is also a mechanical refrigeration reefer located on E. Live Oak Street just west of the tracks. The classic old downtown is worth a look, including the traffic light in the middle of an intersection. On the south side of town is an builders yard on the west side of the highway that contains an ice reefer RR-45 in Grand Canyon/Ship and Travel paint. Check in at the office, and they may give you permission to photograph and crawl on it.

Immediately after that, the main highway goes east over the tracks. You can cut to the west just before the bridge and take a dirt road paralleling the rails to San Angelo Junction. There is nothing to see here except a wye and possibly some interchange cars, but this is where the line took off on the San Angelo Sub.

Work your way back to US 84 and continue toward Brownwood. I was told there used to be a depot a short distance south of Santa Anna on US 283, but this needs to be confirmed. There are no more Santa Fe sightings until you get into Brownwood. US 84/67 skirts the north side of town. Look for the major intersection of W. Austin Avenue and go south to the tracks, but not across the tracks. Just east of the bridge over the tracks are several things you will want to see.

The cultural complex here includes the restored brick depot and Harvey House, 2-6-2 1080, the wooden depot from Kress, TX, and the Martin Lehnis Railroad Museum which also includes Superintendent's Car 408 and a caboose. Check the websites to make sure these are open as this is well worth a visit. Again an attentive eye on Google Earth will reveal the shop and roundhouse area directly across the tracks from the Lehnis museum. The yard curved around the facility and headed south.

Carneige Street in front of all of this will take you east and become Woodson Road taking you back to US 84. Go East to Early, TX, where you will turn south again on Hwy. 84/183. 3.3 miles later you will go under a track. This is Ricker and the track is the Dublin Sub headed to Fort Worth. The main line is still west of the highway.

You will soon come to village of Zephyr. Right as you get to town there are a couple of old cars, one a baggage car, on the east side of the road. Look on the west side of the road as you pass through the village and you'll see a couple of old box cars. I hope you found that exciting because there is nothing else to see for a lot of miles.

Goldthwaite one shipped a lot of wool and mohair. Old warehouses line the track in town. And if you like pecans or pecan flour, the dealer at W. Front St. and 4th St. by the tracks has good stuff.

Back in the car we drive a good piece with little access to the rails to Lometa. Just before we get there we will pass over the San Saba sub which originates to our east at San Saba Jct. As you get into town you will see the long Lometa depot on the east side of the road. It was for sale in 2010, so you can take it home with you if you have a big trailer. If you go to the east side of the tracks you can go north a little to San Saba Jct. and may see South Orient equipment. The foundations of the Lometa Engine House can be seen on Google Earth on the north side of town, west of the tracks.

Next stop is Lampassas. The Santa Fe skirted Lampassas on the northeast side and entered town via a wye. The brick depot is preserved and is on 2nd street 4 blocks east of the Hwy 84/193. The tracks are long gone. On Google Earth you can trace the right of way to the wye on the main line. Early in the 20th Century the SP came in from Burnet to the south and interchanged with the ATSF.

As you leave the depot take 4th St./Hwy 257 to the east to US 190. We will go east with our next stop being Killeen. The railroad will not be easily accessible until then. You are entering the Fort Hood area, the largest army post around. You will go through Copperas Cove and just as you leave town the road will become a divided highway. Look immediately to the north and you will spot the Ft. Hood Intermodal yard where equipment is loaded and unloaded for deployments. Conventioners will go there on Thursday.

When you come to a cloverleave interchange take the US 190 Business route into town. At North 4th street turn north, and just over the tracks you will see the preserved Killeen wooden depot. Originally it was a block east of its current location, but was moved here for preservation.

That is the last relic to see until you get to Temple. Take 190 east to I-35 and go north to Temple.