A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin just bought a railroad

Here’s something I know everyone expecting to hear today: George R.R. Martin, author of the storied A Song of Ice and Fire series and creator of HBO’s Game of Thrones, is now the owner of the Santa Fe Southern Railway Inc.

Actually, he owns it with two other people who, like him, run businesses in Santa Fe, New Mexico: Violet Crown Cinema owner Bill Banowsky and arts philanthropist Catherine Oppenheimer. Apparently, the three of them hatched a plan to buy the railroad over a year ago over a pitcher of margaritas, according to the Albuquerque Journal. “It was like we were in an old Mickey Rooney movie,” Martin said. “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show.”

Martin said that his real motivation in buying the railroad was so could stand in the engine car and blow the whistle. “Even though I’m an old guy, I’m a 13-year-old inside.” And on his Not a Blog, Martin talks about “a deep-buried case of Train Lust” that’s been growing since childhood.

I know this news is making some Song of Ice and Fire fans throw up their hands and shout something along the lines of, “Good god almighty, George, stop playing with trains and finish The Winds of Winter!” But it’s hard to be mad at a guy who just wants to pull the train whistle and hear it go choo-choo.

And the Santa Fe Southern Railway Inc does have an interesting history. Technically, it operates an 18-mile spur — that’s a small branch off the main railway line — between Santa Fe and Lamy, a more-or-less empty part of the New Mexican countryside. The spur was built in the 1800s, so Santa Fe residents could have access to the proper railway that actually ran through Lamy, a line that now goes from Chicago all the way to Los Angeles. In 1896, a luxury hotel was built in the area, which made the spur important for tourism. In recent years it was popular as an excursion train, with passengers able to sit in vintage cars, but eventually fell into disuse. That’s where Martin and his partners come in.

And to hear Martin tell it, they have some big plans for this 18-mile stretch of track. After restoring the bridges and track, they want to have themed holiday excursions, stargazing expeditions, escape rooms on the rails an da murder mystery event called “Murder on the Lamy Express.” Can you tell this railroad was bought by a novelist, a theater owner and the co-founder of the New Mexico School for the Arts?

Martin is also thinking of building a Wild West soundstage in Lamy and using the train in film and TV shows. “We don’t want this to be a shabby railroad on its last legs,” he said. “We want this to be a real jewel.”

"It is going to take a lot of work, more than a few bucks, and a fair amount of time to get the railroad running again. There are tracks and trestles to inspect and repair, old historic coaches to restore to their former splendor, a dead locomotive to bring back to life. And the coronavirus has slowed the process way down. But sooner or later, we do hope to have the old Lamy Line chuffing and puffing once again, and we have all sorts of fun ideas for the future, live music and murder mysteries and train robberies and escape rooms and… well, we shall see."

I gotta say, of everything distracting George R.R. Martin from completing The Winds of Winter, this sounds like the most fun.

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