Raton, NM Freight Depot

Robert Pounds' book Santa Fe Depots - The Western Lines lists the freight depot at Raton, NM as a 24x90' structure built in 1903, the year before the mission-style passenger depot was built. A photo in Jared Harper's Santa Fe's Raton Pass shows a building clearly marked "freight house" less than a block south of the new passenger station. The current freight house at Raton, shown above, was measured by Al Clemens in 2002 and found to be 24' 3" x 154' 1". It is also located several blocks south of the passenger station. Whether the old building was moved and remodelled, or the current structure was an entirely new construction, is not known.

Whatever its past, the depot apparently has a brighter future than would be suggested by this 1999 photo. The depot is now owned by the city and is to be refurbished for use as a day care center and offices for the Raton Senior Citizen Organization. Externally, the depot's appearance is to be retained except for the removal of the raised freight platforms (hidden in the weeds at the far end of the building). Thanks to Al Clemens for information on this project.