Soutwestern Railroad, Inc. consists of two distinct operations, with lines in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, which were purchased from the Santa Fe Railroad in June, 1990. The operation in New Mexico, known as the “Whitewater Branch,” serves Chino copper mining and smelting complex owned by Phelps Dodge Corporation, near Silver City, as well as two smaller shippers. The operation in Texas and Oklahoma, known as the “Shattuck Branch,” serves the agricultural industry.

The Whitewater Line consist of branchlines located in southwestern New Mexico, which originate approximately three miles north of Deming, New Mexico, off the Santa Fe mainline. The first branch runs from Deming to Burrow Mountain junction and serves the Phelps Dodge copper mine at Tyrone, New Mexico. The second branch runs from Whitewater to Hurley, Hanover Junction and Santa Rita. This branch serves the Phelps Dodge copper refinery at Hurley, a second Phelps Dodge copper mine located at Santa Rita, and serves Cobre Mining Corporation. The Whitewater Line totaled 25.9 track miles until July 1994, when Southwestern purchased an additional 27 miles of track from Whitewater to Deming, New Mexico.

The traffic base on the line consists of industrial chemicals, metal ores, coke, scrap metals, and copper products. All branches are in excellent condition and are laid with 90-and 110-pound rail. The primary customer on the Whitewater Line is Phelps Dodge. Phelps Dodge mines and refines concentrate to produce copper products and industrial chemicals.

The base of operations for the Whitewater Branch is in Hurley, New Mexico. Hurley also is the location of the depot, fueling facility and sanding tower. In addition, sulfuric acid and copper products are moved outbound from the Hurley refinery to the Deming Interchange six times per week. A full-time switch crew handles switching moves in Hurley for the Chino refinery. In addition to train crew personnel, an office manager, two mechanics, one carman, and four full-time maintenance people are employed on the Whitewater Branch.

The Shattuck Branch, located in the Texas-Oklahoma panhandle, leaves the Santa Fe mainline at Shattuck, Oklahoma, and ends at Spearman, Texas, a distance of 85 miles. The line serves 45 active customers and handles feed grains, agricultural commodities, agricultural chemicals and oil service chemicals.

Maintenance has been very good on this line, which is laid with 85- and 90- pound rail on all mainline track and sidings.

Perryton is the operations center for this line. One GP30 and two GP7 locomotives are used to move inbound and outbound loads as needed between Shattuck and customers along the line. The balance of the available crew time is used for routine track and locomotive maintenance. Back