Abó Pass Trail

The Santa Fe railroad wanted a way around Raton and Glorieta passes, where its grades ran to 3.5 percent; through Abó Canyon it found a line no steeper than 1.25. The Belen Cutoff opened in 1908 and soon carried most of the company's transcontinental freight. The four miles through the canyon stayed single track for a century. Crews blasted about 3.6 million tons of rock and built nine bridges, and the first train ran on the second track on June 3, 2011, lifting capacity from about 80 trains a day to about 130.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Abó Pass Trail Cutting through the southern edge of the Manzano Mountains, this area has always been an important trade route. The trail linked Abó and the Salinas pueblos to the Rio Grande pueblos, fostering trade of beans, cotton, buffalo meat and salt with the Plains Indians. It gave access to El Camino Real, and U.S. 60 - originally a coast-to-coast highway - follows the trail's route through the pass. One of the world's busiest intermodal transport routes, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, runs through Abó Canyon, just north of Abó Pass.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument — 15 mi
  Three Spanish mission churches raised over Tiwa and Tompiro pueblos east of the Manzano Mountains in the 1600s, each of its own stone, and one never finished.

More markers nearby

• Abó Ruins — 4.6 mi
• Mountainair — 13 mi
• Mountainair — 14 mi
• Quarai Ruins — 15 mi