IN THE NEWS

SANTA FE, N.M. — La Mama, a natural wine bar and restaurant set in a 1910s craftsman bungalow, doesn’t feel like it belongs here. Unlike most of the city’s adobe-clad hangouts, the space is spare and whitewashed. Margaritas and chiles are nowhere to be found on the menu.

When the Santa Fe Southern Railway shut down in 2012, it was one year after novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones premiered on HBO. Eight years later, the famous Santa Fe resident found himself involved in reviving the historic rail line, turning it into a fantasy-filled adventure ride. The project finally came to fruition, with the debut of Sky Railway in December 2021.

Hello from Santa Fe, New Mexico! This is one of my favorite cities in the U.S. that I try to visit at least once a year. Santa Fe is rich in culture, art, and food – there are about one hundred art galleries on Canyon Road alone! The food is incredible – I love both the red and green chile (ask for Christmas when dining at the restaurants).

Darley Newman, host, creator, and producer of the PBS show Travels with Darley, was waiting for the train. She stood in the depot in Lamy, New Mexico, wearing cowboy boots and jeans, ready for the Wild West adventure she planned to film for her show. As her ride pulled in, she admired its vintage cars, which were covered with splashes of draconic graffiti. “The train looked like a dragon rolling through the countryside. I really hadn’t seen a train quite like that before,” she says. The paint job might seem out of place for a historic railroad, but one key detail explains it: George R.R. Martin co-owns the train.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There are a lot of ways to get into the holiday spirit here in New Mexico – and that now includes riding the rails.

Throughout December, you can ride on Sky Railway’s “Pablo’s Holiday Train in Lamy.” It’s an hour-long journey through the desert sets off from the historic Lamy depot and begins with a festive sing-a-long.

In between songs, passengers can enjoy some local treats and hot chocolate. There’s even a special menu just for the adults to enjoy.

The rides are as dynamic as the story lines on Sky Railway, which runs a slate of entertaining excursions on the former Santa Fe Southern Railway branch-line between Santa Fe and Lamy. The nearly year-old railroad is powered by a group of investors helmed by Game of Thrones creator (and longtime Santa Fean) George R.R. Martin. His passion for fantasy is splashed across the trains, which are painted as a dragon and a wolf.

Nestled in the heart of the Southwest, where the landscapes whisper tales of ancient times and the skies paint pictures with their enchanting sunsets, lies an experience that encapsulates the essence of New Mexico’s beauty and cultural richness. Sky Railway’s Sunset Serenade offers not just a ride but a voyage into the soul of Santa Fe, blending the allure of its scenic vistas with the vibrancy of its thriving music scene.

A few years ago, A Song of Ice and Fire author and Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin joined forces with a couple of other prominent citizens in the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico and bought the Santa Fe Southern Railway, an 18-mile stretch of rail running from Santa Fe to Lamy, which is pretty much just an empty piece of land with a train station on it. Martin and his co-owners christened this project the Sky Railway. They planned to rent it out for pleasure excursions, stargazing events, murder mystery experiences, and maybe even so Hollywood types could film movies on it.