What good news it is, to hear that your southwest trip was enjoyable. Having lived in and railroaded in the southwest all of my life, I'm kind of fond of it. Those two small segments of the once-proud narrow gauge circle are pretty impressive, each in its own way, I'll agree. My hat is off to all of the D&RGW and RGS narrow gauge railroaders of the past, who worked in tough territory, miles from any help with anything, and they got the trains over the road in spite of all kinds of challenges. The young guys who run those trains these days do a very good job of it -- they have to. You may not have noticed, but, coming downgrade from Osier, the crew sets the retainers to Slow Direct. That's probably your only ride on a passenger train that has to set retainers. And I am glad to know that my Home Road did not disappoint you by only running 149 trains through Gallup in 36 hours, or slip in a slow one. With no annoying trees to block your view, you could see every one of the trains.
My situation is the reverse of yours, in that I am finally getting to visit eastern railroads that I have only known from photos. This year, I'm going to explore part of the ex-Erie.
