[1] In 1990 Southwestern acquired AT&SF trackage north and west of Whitewater, New Mexico serving the Phelps Dodge open-pit copper mines at Chino and Tyrone, and the smelter at Hurley.
Southwestern's primary traffic on this division is copper-related: ore from the mines to adjacent concentrators, and outbound loads of copper anodes, cathodes, and sulfuric acid (a by-product of the refining process) for transhipment via the BNSF at Rincon or the Union Pacific at Deming.
In 1891 the Silver City and Northern Railroad was built north from Whitewater through Hurley to San Jose (now Hanover Junction), a total of 14 miles.
Copper prices plummeted after the First World War, making the low-grade ore at this location uneconomical to process, but the railroad struggled on until 1934 when it finally closed and the tracks were removed.
[2] Established in 2004 from a connection with Burlington Northern Santa Fe in Clovis, New Mexico, the 182 mile BNSF Carlsbad Subdivision was leased by SW until 2017.
The line struggled with limited traffic, primarily agricultural and livestock in the early years, until the discovery and development of significant potash deposits east of Carlsbad in the late 1920s.
Passenger and postal traffic, which usually only supported daily motorized rail cars, was boosted from 1930 when Carlsbad Caverns was made a National Park, but eventually withered away by 1971.
In 2002, BNSF applied to abandon this branch as well as the 21 miles connecting Loving and Pecos, noting that the last revenue train had run on July 23, 1999.
[7] This railroad was originally constructed in 1919 as the North Texas and Santa Fe Railway, a subsidiary of the AT&SF,[8] and was later absorbed into the parent company.