Mexican Canyon Trestle is a historic wooden

trestle bridge A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles trian ...

in New Mexico's

Sacramento Mountains The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County (small portions of the range lie in Lincoln County and Chaves County). From north to south, ...

Otero County, New Mexico Otero County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,797. Its county seat is Alamogordo. Its southern boundary is the Texas state line. It is named for Miguel Antonio Otero (born 1859), ...

, just outside

Cloudcroft, New Mexico Cloudcroft is a village in Otero County, New Mexico, United States, and is located within the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 674 at the 2010 census. Despite being located in an otherwise arid region, its high elevation (; one of ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1979. With It is located about northwest of Cloudcroft off

US 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...

. It can be seen from a viewpoint, off the highway, with a historical plaque describing "The Cloud Climbing Railroad".

It is the most prominent remaining structure of the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway which operated under various names from 1899 to 1947. Built in 1899, the curved trestle has an overall length of 323 feet and rises 52 feet above the canyon floor. Vertical supports spaced 15 feet apart consist of 12" x 12" timbers. The rails (removed in 1948) and crossties were placed on 8"x16" stringers held together with three-quarter-inch bolts and cast iron spacers. In order to form the curve, the top part was built in 21 sections with 8"x16" timbers. There are 10 main timbers 15 feet in length in each of the 21 sections resting on footing blocks set 4 to 8 feet underground. Lateral, longitudinal, and diagonal wooden braces prevented sway and shifting of the trestle. A wooden guard rail ran along the track to keep the ties from bunching. Metal guard rails running outside the standard gauge rails prevented derailed trains from falling off the trestle. This structure was one of 58 trestles built on the mountainous 32-mile route which also required a switchback and numerous sharp curves. After the route was abandoned in 1947, the rails were taken up and salvagers removed a few of the timbers. The trestle is still essentially intact, however, and is a striking feature of the landscape near Cloudcroft.

It is a large trestle bridge, in fact huge relative to the size of the single-tier Bridge A 249 a short ways away. It is a multi-tier wood-frame trestle which was part of the Alamogordo & Sacramento Mountains Railroad, a railroad that operated from 1899 to 1947. The railroad had about of track connecting

Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo () is the seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. The population was ...

to spruce and fir timber areas in the

. This trestle is one of seven trestles surviving out of 51 built by the railroad. It was deemed significant as "the most prominent remaining structure of the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway" and as a largely well-preserved, prominent landmark. It is located at an elevation of 8,450 feet.

References

External links

National Register Nomination File
Trestle bridges in the United States Bridges in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in Otero County, New Mexico Buildings and structures completed in 1899 {{NewMexico-NRHP-stub