Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AAR reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the largest railroads in the United States.

History

Startup and initial growth

The railroad was initially chartered on January 11 1859 as the Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company by Cyrus K. Holliday to build from Topeka, Kansas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, then on to the Gulf of Mexico. On May 3 1863, the railroad changed names to more closely match the aspirations of its founder to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The railroad broke ground in Topeka on October 30 1868, and started building westward where one of the first construction tasks was to cross the Kaw River. The first section of track opened on April 26 1869, less than a month from the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad, with special trains between Topeka and Pauline. The distance was only 6 miles (10 km), but the Wakarusa Picnic Special train took passengers over the route for celebration in Pauline.

Crews continued working westeard, reaching Dodge City in 1871. With this connection, the Santa Fe was able to compete for cattle transportation with the Kansas Pacific Railway. Construction continued, and the Santa Fe opened the last section of track between Topeka and the Colorado/Kansas border on December 23 1873. The Santa Fe's tracks reached Pueblo, Colorado on March 1 1876. Serving Pueblo opened a number of new freight opportunities for the railroad as it now could haul coal from Colorado eastward.

Building across Kansas and eastern Colorado may have been technologically simple as there weren't many large natural obstacles in the way (certainly not as many as the railroad was about to encounter further west), but the Santa Fe found it almost economically impossible because of the sparse population in the area. To combat this problem, the Santa Fe set up real estate offices in the area and vigorously promoted settlement across Kansas on the land that was granted to the railroad by Congress in 1863. The Santa Fe offered discounted passenger fares to anyone who travelled west on the railroad to inspect the land; if the land was subsequently purchased by the traveller, the railroad applied the passenger's ticket price toward the sale of the land.

Now that the railroad had built across the plains and had a customer base providing income for the railroad, it was time for the railroad to tackle the difficult terrain of the Rocky Mountains.

Crossing the Rockies, competition with the Rio Grande

Expansion through mergers

The failed SPSF merger

Merger into BNSF

Company officers

Presidents of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway:

• Henry Strong: 1859–
• Edward Engel: 1939–1944
• Fred Gurley: 1944–1958
• Ernest S. Marsh: 1958–1967
• John S. Reed: 1967–
• W. John Swartz: 1986–1989
• Mike Haverty: 1989–1995

  This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Paint schemes & markings

Steam locomotives

Diesel locomotives, freight

Diesel locomotives used in freight service (with the exception of streamlined units) between 1934 and 1960 were painted black, with a thin white or silver accent strip and diagonal white or silver stripes painted on the ends and cab sides to increase the visibility at grade crossings (typically referred to as the Zebra Stripe scheme). The letters "A.T.S.F." were applied in a small font to the sides of the unit just above the accent stripe, with the standard blue and white "Santa Fe" logo below.

The years 1960 to 1972 saw non-streamlined freight locomotives sporting the Billboard color scheme wherein the units were predominately dark blue with yellow ends and trim, with a single yellow accent stripe. The words "Santa Fe" were applied in yellow in a large serif font to the sides of the locomotive below the accent stripe (save for yard switchers which displayed the "Santa Fe" in small yellow letters above the accent stripe, somewhat akin to the Zebra Stripe arrangement).

From 1972 to 1996, and even on into the BNSF era, the company adopted a new paint scheme often known among railfans as the Yellowbonnet which placed more yellow on the locomotives, again creating greater visibility at grade crossings. The truck assemblies, previously colored black, now received silver paint.

Several experimental and commemorative paint schemes emerged during the Santa Fe's diesel era. One combination was developed and partially implemented in anticipation of a merger between the parent companies of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific (SP) railroads in 1984. The red, yellow and black paint scheme (with large red block letters "SF" on the sides and ends of the units) of the proposed Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad (SPSF) has come to be somewhat derisively known among railfans as the Kodachrome livery due to the similarity in colors to the boxes containing slide film sold by the Eastman Kodak Company under the same name. A common joke among railfans is that "SPSF" really stands for "Shouldn't Paint So Fast". Though the merger application was subsequently denied by the ICC, locomotives bearing this color scheme can still be found occasionally serving in lease service.

Diesel locomotives, passenger

Rolling stock, freight

Rolling stock, passenger

References

• Baker Library Historical Collections, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Records, 1879–1896. Retrieved May 10 2005.
• Berkman, Pamela, ed. (1988). The History of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Brompton Books Corp., Greenwich, CT. ISBN 0–517–63350–7.
• Bryant, Jr., Keith L. (1974). History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 0–8032–6066–0.
• The Cosmopolitan (February 1893), The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe. Retrieved May 10 2005.
• Donaldson, Stephen E. and William A. Myers (1989). Rails through the Orange Groves, Volume One. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 87046–088–99.
• Donaldson, Stephen E. and William A. Myers (1990). Rails through the Orange Groves, Volume Two. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 87046–094–3.
• Duke, Donald and Stan Kistler (1963). Santa Fe...Steel Rails through California. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. .
• Duke, Donald (1995). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume One. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0–87095–110–6.
• Duke, Donald (1997). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume Two. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0–87095–110–6.
• Gibson, Elizabeth (July 16 2002), The Old West – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (Part 1). Retrieved May 13 2005.
• Gibson, Elizabeth (July 23 2002), The Old West – The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (Part 2). Retrieved May 10 2005.
• Glischinski, Steve (1997). Santa Fe Railway. MBI Publishing Company, Osceola, WI. ISBN 0–7603–0380–0.
• Hendrickson, Richard H. (1998). Santa Fe Railway Painting & Lettering GUide for Model Railroaders, Volume 1--Rolling Stock. The Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society, Inc., Highlands Ranch, CO. .
• Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University (2004), Alumni Profiles: W. John Swartz. Retrieved May 11 2005.
• Serpico, Philip C. (1988). Santa Fé: Route to the Pacific. Hawthorne Printing Co., Gardena, CA. ISBN 0–88418–000-X.

See also

• Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad
• Chief
• El Capitan
• San Diegan
• Super Chief

External links

• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway
• California State Railway Museum
• Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society