Lordsburg, NM (LDB)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$55,105

Station Ridership

FY 2011

510

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

Lordsburg is a flag stop. If there is a reservation for a passenger boarding or detraining here, the train will stop. If not, it simply continues through Lordsburg. The small shelter that served the passengers was recently taken down.  This stop does not have a platform and passengers use the street at the grade crossing for boarding. In 1988, the Southern Pacific razed the original 1880s wooden clapboard station that once stood by the tracks. Low slung, it featured a hipped roof and wide eaves supported by numerous simple wooden brackets; the eaves provided much needed shade for passengers and railroad employees, as a warm summer day in town can reach almost 100 degrees.

Lordsburg was founded in 1880 when the Southern Pacific reached the area on its way east in a quest to complete the second transcontinental railroad. Theories abound as to the town’s namesake, but the most reasonable seems to be that it was named in honor of Delbert Lord, chief engineer for the railroad’s mainline, and who located the town site halfway between Tucson and El Paso.

In addition to rail, road transport has also been important to the area. Across from the rail station one could find the Hotel Hidalgo, designed in 1928 by the El Paso architecture and engineering firm of Trost and Trost. Constructed in the Pueblo Revival style so popular in New Mexico, it featured a lobby with an impressive beamed ceiling and plush red leather chairs. The hotel was a well known landmark and stop on the Old Spanish Trail, a transcontinental highway inaugurated in 1915 that eventually connected St. Augustine, FL to San Diego, CA. In the 1960s, new interstate highways bypassed the old roads, and the highway fell into obscurity, hurting establishments such as the Hotel Hidalgo.

Although a small town, Lordsburg has seen its fair share of important historic events. In the late 19th century, the town served as a shipping point for numerous mine communities such as Shakespeare and Steins, which are today ghost-towns. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh stopped in Lordsburg during his cross-country trip; Amelia Earhart would also visit the town’s airport, the first in New Mexico. During World War II, Lordsburg became known as the site of an internment camp for Japanese-Americans operated by the U.S. Army.

Today Lordsburg is known for its proximity to some of the great natural landscapes of the Southwest, including Coronado and Gila National Forests, as well as numerous mountain ranges that provide opportunities for hiking, hunting, and bird watching. Appropriately, New Mexico’s state song, which praises “Rugged and high sierras, With deep canyons below, Dotted with fertile valleys…” was written by Elizabeth Garrett while she resided in Lordsburg in the early 20th century.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing or baggage service at this facility. Lordsburg is served by tri-weekly train service.