Moments of Enchantment; 203; Tolar, New Mexico

For the tiny New Mexico community of Tullar, located just east of Fort Sumner, the great iron horse, the train, gave Tullar life and then took it away with one great explosion more in a moment. Life came to the eastern New Mexico town of Tullar, along with the railroad in the early 1900s. The train brought life supplies, wood for housing, heating fuel, clothes and food. The population of the modest town grew to several hundred in the next few decades, but on a cold autumn day during World War II, the same railroad tracks that had been a lifeline in years earlier, now delivered death. It was just afternoon on November the 30th, 1944, when a hundred and sixty-five hundred pound bombs headed for Japan, exploded on a train passing through Tullar. The blast was felt hundreds of miles away, metal shrapnel skade the town.

Every building in Tullar was destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Incredibly, only one person in town was killed. Just Brown, the father of seven and ironically, Mr. Brown's house was the only one in town that wasn't leveled. An investigation took place, the FBI in charge. One of the train's freight cars developed a hotbox, overheated wheel bearings, causing an axle to break. The damaged car derailed the entire train, a tremendous fire burned for half an hour, and then the bombs took over, blowing a 75 foot crater 10 feet deep into the sandy earth. Metal wheels from the train roared like rockets through downtown storefronts. In Tullar, it can truly be said that the great iron horse that brought the town to life ended that life quickly when cold autumn afternoon. To learn more about New Mexico's settlement years, visit the Palace of the Governor's History Museum in Santa Fe. Moments of Enchantment brought to you by the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs.

For Moments of Enchantment, I'm David Griffin.