El Paso Union Station
El Paso, Texas

Tracks by Billy B. Smith

"I have always loved railroads, both the trains and tracks... One railroad line in particular has been for me an umbilical cord that has connected me to my roots and my life. I have lived close to this line for most of my life. It always reminds me of where I've been and where I could have gone...."

"...The MP and Southern Pacific merged about 100 miles east of El Paso and entered the city as a single line. The MP actually used El Paso as a western terminal point while the SP went on to California. Another branch of the SP radiated out from El Paso in a northeasterly direction toward the Texas Panhandle and points in Kansas. This was the line I was most familiar with because it paralleled the highway from El Paso to Alamogordo, New Mexico. I traveled this road many times either to the mountains or to White Sands National Park and was able to observe long SP freight trains in and out of El Paso. The Santa Fe (AT&SF) also entered El Paso from Albuquerque and beyond. Trains tended to run on this line at night, so I didn't get to see many of them. All the railroads shared one station: Union Station in downtown El Paso...." more