Throwback Thursday; Alamogordo and Sacramento Railroad (Cloud Climbing Railroad) on US 82

Back in 2012 I took a trip up US 82 from US 70/54 in Alamogordo which occupies much of the former right-of-way of the Alamogordo and Sacramento Railroad.

The A&S Railroad was a 32 mile spur of the El Paso and Northeast Railroad which was in operation from 1898 to 1948. The A&S Railroad was primarily in service haul freight from the sawmills in Cloudcroft and Russia. The A&S Railroad was known as the "Cloud Climber" due to it having a starting elevation at 4,320 feet above sea level and an ending elevation of 9,076 feet above sea level. The A&S had grades as high as 6.4% and was generally considered to be an engineering marvel. After freight service ended in 1947 the A&S rails were dismantled, only the Cloudcroft trestle remains in place to this day.

Much of the former right-of-way of the A&S Railroad was used by US Route 82 when it was extended to Alamogordo in 1961. The climb east into Cloudcroft from Alamogord is fast but not as steep as might be suspect due to the low grades. Cloudcroft at 8,600 feet above sea level is one of the highest all-year settlements in the United States.

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California State Route 232

This past month I drove the entirety of California State Route 232 in Ventura County. CA 232 is an approximately 4 miles State Highway aligned on Vineland Avenye which begins near Saticoy at CA 118 and traverses southwest to US Route 101 in Oxnard. The alignment of CA 232 was first adopted into the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 154 according to CAhighways.org. CAhighways.org on LRN 154 As originally defined LRN 154 was aligned from LRN 9 (future CA 118) southwest to LRN 2/US 101 in El Rio. This configuration of LRN 154 between CA 118/LRN 9 and US 101/LRN 2 can be seen on the 1935 California Division of Highways Map of Ventura County. 1935 Ventura County Highway Map According to CAhighways.org the route of LRN 154 was extended west from US 101/LRN 2 to US 101A/LRN 60 in 1951. Unfortunately State Highway Maps do not show this extension due to it being extremely small. During the 1964 State Highway Renumbering LRN 154 was assigned CA 232. Of n

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Interstate 15 Exit 239 in the Mojave Desert of northern San Bernardino County, California accesses the well known oddity of Zzyzx Road. Zzyzx Road connects 4.5 miles from Interstate 15 to a small community of the same name which is located on the shore of the dry Soda Lake. "Zzyzx" was coined in 1944 by Curtis Howe Springer as what he promoted as to be last word in the English Language. On the surface Zzyzx appears to be something of a modern invention but the area has significant overall historical importance as part of a transportation corridor through the Mojave Desert. Zzyzx lies at a point which was the intersection of the Mojave Road of the 19th Century the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad of the early 20th Century. The backstory of Soda Springs, the Mojave Road, Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad and Zzyzx The present site of Zzyzx is located upon a natural spring along the western shore of Soda Dry Lake. This spring has historically been known as "Soda S

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