Jemez Mountains Railroads, Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico

It is customary with local histories to have many contributors, but this effort is unusual for both the number of them and the significance of their contributions. As a result, the final text can be said to be a reasonably complete and comprehensive story of the railroads in and around the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Ellen Glover, the author's wife, aided immeasurably with her work in editing, clarifying, and providing a balance between the jargon-laden railroad history, and the needs of the general reader. In a similar manner. David "A" Gillio of the Forest Service has offered his usual fine job of editing for a publication, a thankless and time-consuming task which is the last line of defense against errors and inconsistencies.

Typesetting for this volume was accomplished on the Forest Service's Data General Computer. Under the leadership of the Recreation staff unit's Chief Clerk, Dana Woodworth, the text was entered into the computer. She was assisted by Pat Smillie and Berlinda Gaddy. All three ladies volunteered their time for the project and their work is much appreciated.

The name of Henry E. Bender, Jr., now of San Jose, California, must stand at the head of the list of contributors to this work. Around 1960 he interviewed a number of the participants in the construction and operations of the concerned railroads and, in addition, he gathered together the meager information then available. He carefully preserved all of this information in its most complete form, and made it available to the author over twenty years later. It can be said that Henry's collection forms the entire foundation for this book, without which the histories could not have been written.

The second substantial contributor to this effort was Mr. Thomas P. Gallagher. Jr. His information, which included significant company documents as well as personal recollections, provided another authentic foundation for the interpretation of the many random bits of information that came to light. Further, Mr. Gallagher took the trouble to read and comment on the draft manuscript. His contributions will benefit all readers of this text.

A number of others have made contributions of significance, notably Donna Broudy, Joseph P. Hereford, Jr., John B. Moore, Jr., and Bill Lock. Their researches and interviews have illuminated many dark corners of the history, and their work has added considerable authority to the history. Boyd Curnutte, Don Hammond, C. O. Clark, Jon H. Tuthill and Milton Seligman were among those who shared their memories, records and photographs with the author. Yale Weinstein a special contribution was the sharing of his collection of snapshots and his knowledge which provided a vivid view of life in the logging camps of the late 1930s. Gene Harty and Rose Mary Gleason Harty provided photographs from the "Red" Gleason and Charlie Pratt family albums. And yet another group offered guidance to the author on where to dig and who to talk to for information: Ed Mecham, John Adams, and Bryan Johnson.

The writing of railroad history, even of such obscure railroads as these, depends very much on a group of devoted railroad and locomotive historians. Their broad grasp of the technical history was essential in defining the locomotives and physical plant of railroads. Doug Richter. Bert Ward, Fred Springer, Bob Pounds, Martin Lehnis and Ed Mahoney provided the essential details of the locomotive roster and rolling stock list. Connie Menninger of the Kansas State Historical Society searched the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway archives to come up with invaluable information regarding the relationships between the short lines and their main line connection.