Back in the day I made about  a half dozen trips into Abo Canyon using my mountain bike. I would discreetly park my truck  7 or 8 miles away at a convenience store and go from there, Easy highway ride when I was in better shape. In fact I also used the  store as a base going all the way to Mountain Air Once I was down in the canyon it was mostly a matter of not being stupid and stay discreet. About the only company I ever had was a pack of ATVs who were stupid. A couple of times I came upon a parked MOW vehicle. Always friendly but I took this as a  clue to get out now. When the plans came out about the new construction I called it quits figuring there would be a lot more people around. There was a rumor that a nearby rancher who listened to the scanner and hearing of a trespasser would head out with his ATV and a rifle. Sounds extreme but NM ranchers seem to be more aggressive and meaner than normal.
As a side note I meant the Special Agent out of Belen several times. I always saw him before he saw me so I was always legal. He was in his early 60s and was ready to retire with all of the bullshit connected with rail road. The railroad was hiring cheap contract labor and pushing older people like him aside and trying to cheat him out of his retirement, While I was always legal he told me that the contract labor had no problems about lying so that they could meet their ticket quota. I took this as a clue to do all my photography from a clearly public property like a road.

Love seeing those War Bonnet units!!!!

You realize, of course, that this footage will one day be historic.

I rail-fanned Abo Canyon for three full days back in the early 1990's. There were no police, you could drive or walk anywhere you wanted, as long as you closed the gates behind you after passing through. I had three bright, sunny, perfect days on the Santa Fe.  Those slides are among the most treasured in my collection.

Great shots and awesome scenery, excellent video S.S. Ellison!  Larry

I drove through Abo Canyon several times during the construction of the second track.  There was one place on the highway where you could look down the throat of the canyon and see the construction.  When I would drive through Mountainair I could see the trains all stacked up waiting their turn through the canyon.

Oh wow! What a wonderful video. Excellent photography! We even saw a couple of old Dash 9 War Bonnets . Thank you so much. You get a subbie for that great video.

It's great to see the old Santa Fe paint..... And BN too.... Great video. The new cuts look like perfectly natural parts of the landscape.

Was at a recruiting event in Flag. for the Arizona Rangers in 2012 and they did asset protection for BNSF since there were a total of 3 RR Police for the state of Az

Okay ✅ just subscribed,because of the sounds and click’s on the train in motion, no commentary and talking thank you, it is a pleasure thanks BigAL California

Cool shots and location.

In 2010 I had a tour of the job site by the contractors super. He had some great tales about getting permits for the work and protecting wild life.

Very well documented sir. Nice to have tour guides too.

A very nice video about an amazing part of the country! I worked with Fleenor and Ellison when I worked for BNSF in Denver. Both are why I enjoyed working for the BNSF. Hope they're both doing well....

New to the channel - excellent videos and superb quality!!!! Very nice!!!! 👍

Nice video. I travel alot and Abo is one of my favorite places to visit. I'm there several times a year, and was just there last week actually. Perhaps why the algorithm offered up this video.

I recently went to abo canyon when visiting family in Rio rancho nm

Great shots! Beautiful and rugged landscape!
Still can't believe BNSF still has some old SF Warbonnets running out there.....

I am a member of the Santa Fe Historical & Modeling Society. At the convention last year in Naperville they had a presentation on Abo Canyon. They had a good write up in the Warbonnet recently as well. Thanks for the video!

Nice!!