Welcome to Santa Fe's Raton Subdivision Model Railroad

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Santa Fe’s Raton Subdivision Model Railroad is about much more than merely having fun with scale trains. The purpose of this model railroad is to bring history to life with fine modeling skills.

Raton Pass was chosen for the location of the model railroad for several reasons. Santa Fe Railway history is deeply rooted in Raton Pass as far back as 1878, and the development of Santa Fe’s locomotives, especially steam, was greatly influenced by the steep grades of Raton.

At first the Santa Fe built a switch-back system of track to get trains over the pass. The switch-back was an incredible 6% grade on both sides of the pass. No railroad today can imagine such a step grade for a Class 1 railroad. When the tunnels were built the grade was reduced to 3.5%, even so, the grades of Raton Pass are the steepest in the United States for a Class 1 railroad.

The model railroad’s duplication of the steep grades and the historic region of Raton Pass in HO scale is the perfect setting to highlight the Santa Fe's unique history. The real pass is located between the towns of Raton, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado and it is the most grueling twenty-three-mile section of steep grade railroading in the nation. Our model railroad of course is a much shorter distance but being built with the same grades as the prototype, it will test the endurance of the model locomotives as they climb and then descend the pass, giving the visitor an exciting experience.