General William Palmer's dream had been for his Denver & Rio Grande to grow into a narrow-gauge system stretching from Denver to Mexico City. The line south from Alamosa to Santa Fe was a stepping stone on the way to realizing that dream—but after the loss of Raton Pass to and the conflict at Royal Gorge with the Santa Fe, and the subsequent "Treaty of Boston" which effectively ceded northern New Mexico to the ATSF, the Rio Grande turned its attention to the rich mining territory in western Colorado, with the intended line to Santa Fe terminated at Espanola.

It took a third party to step in and complete the line the DRG had originally planned. After several financial reversals, the Texas, Santa Fe & Northern railroad company completed the line from Santa Fe to Espanola in January 1887. After a few more years the Denver & Rio Grande obtained control and the completed line officially became the Santa Fe Branch. Unofficially, though—well, with the sparse freight traffic on the line, one cargo that was worthy of notice and consistent enough to be depended upon was the chili peppers which were grown by the farmers along the line. Hence the Santa Fe Branch is better known to history as the "Chili Line".

The Chili Line was never a great revenue producer, and while it was more direct (by 79 miles) than the Santa Fe's roundabout route via Lamy and La Junta, it suffered under the speed and capacity limitations imposed by its narrow gauge right-of-way. By 1941, a prospective passenger seeking to travel from the capital of New Mexico to the capital of Colorado could choose to embark upon the all-day and all-night odyssey shown above. Or, he could spend a full working day followed by time for dinner in Santa Fe, ride to Lamy in a new air-conditioned bus, board the eastbound California Limited at 7:40 p.m., spend the night, whether in coach or sleeper, in air-conditioned comfort—and arrive in Denver at about the same time as the traveler who had embarked on the Chili Line the previous morning. Not surprisingly, only the most rabid narrow-gauge fans sought out the Chili Line—and there weren't enough of them to keep it in business. The Chili Line closed for good in September of 1941.

See Time Magazine's article on the last run of the Chili Line at Time Online (opens in a new window).