#daylightroute

[railwayhistorical]

Southern Pacific's Daylight Route

After poking around south of I-10 working on a project on the Great Divide, I popped back up to the Interstate and the former Southern Pacific's Daylight Route through New Mexico.

We're west from the Great Divide here, at Exit 11. I believe the expanse north of the tracks here is the South Alkali Duck Pond.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken April 3rd 2026.

[railwayhistorical]

Great Divide on the Southern Pacific

While I posted what I *thought* was the Great Divide along the Southern Pacific Daylight Route before (here), this is the correct spot as per the USGS. This locale is to be found just east of the bridge at Exit 55 on I-10 between Lordsburg and Deming, New Mexico.

As stated in the earlier post: the highway department erected a sign announcing the Divide two miles east of this spot, and one can't really notice this is the pass at all, as it's super flat all around. Hence the need for a close read of a detailed USGS map.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken April 3rd 2026