Built in 1909 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in the Mission Revival style, Lamy station was the southern terminus for the Santa Fe Southern Railway until 2014. Currently used by Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line, the station is 18 miles south of Santa Fe and the only way to get there by train and then a connecting bus.

Scientists arriving for work at Los Alamos by train were met at the Lamy station and escorted to 109 E Palace Avenue in Santa Fe, the gateway to the Manhattan Project and work on the hill.

The building is maintained as it looked so many years ago. Walking into the waiting area is taking a trip back in time, imagining rail passengers disembarking for Santa Fe.

In March, 1944, 200 grams of uranium 235 were shipped from Y-12 in Oak Ridge, TN, to Los Alamos. Army Lieutenants dressed as salesmen travelled by commercial train to Chicago, then to New Mexico — and through Lamy station — with the uranium concealed in two coffee-cup-sized gold-lined nickel containers inside a special briefcase.