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Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

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Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
ATSF system (shown in blue) at the time
of the BNSF merger
Overview
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois
Locale
List
Dates of operation1859–1996; 28 years ago (1996)
SuccessorBurlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (later BNSF Railway)

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF) (often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF) was a large railroad in the United States. Created in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land. Despite the name, its main railroad never served Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was because the terrain was too rough. A branch line from Lamy reached Santa Fe instead.

The railroad officially ended on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) was created on February 11, 1859, to join Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. In its early years, the railroad helped people settle in Kansas. A lot of its revenue came from wheat grown there and from cattle driven north from Texas to Wichita and Dodge City by September 1872.[1]

AT&SF reached Albuquerque in 1880. Santa Fe (the original goal of the railroad) was on a short branch from Lamy, New Mexico.[2]

Burlington Northern merger

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See the main article: BNSF Railway

On September 22, 1995, AT&SF merged with Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway (BNSF). The two lines kept separate operations until December 31, 1996 when it officially became BNSF.

1870 1945
Gross operating revenue $182,580 $528,080,530
Total track length 62 miles (100 km) 13,115 miles (21,107 km)
Freight carried 98,920 tons 59,565,100 tons
Passengers carried 33,630 11,264,000
Locomotives owned 6 1,759
Unpowered rolling stock owned 141 81,974 freight cars
1,436 passenger cars
Source: Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
Revenue Freight Ton-Miles (Millions)
ATSF/GC&SF/P&SF Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka FtWorth & Rio Grande KCM&O/KCM&O of Texas Clinton & Oklahoma Western New Mexico Central
1925 13862 14 42 330 2 1
1933 8712 12 18 (incl P&SF) (incl P&SF) (incl ATSF)
1944 37603 45 (incl GC&SF)
1960 36635 20
1970 48328 (merged)
Revenue Passenger-Miles (Millions)
ATSF/GC&SF/P&SF Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka FtWorth & Rio Grande KCM&O/KCM&O of Texas Clinton & Oklahoma Western New Mexico Central
1925 1410 5 6 8 0.1 0.1
1933 555 0.1 0.8 (incl P&SF) (incl P&SF) (incl ATSF)
1944 6250 0.2 (incl GC&SF)
1960 1689 0
1970 727 (merged)

References

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  1. ↑ Drury, George H. (1992). The Train-Watcher's Guide to North American Railroads: A Contemporary Reference to the Major railroads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 37–42. ISBN 978-0-89024-131-8.
  2. ↑ "The Birth of The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, by Joseph W. Snell and Don W. Wilson, Summer 1968". Kancoll.org. 1968-01-17. Archived from the original on 24 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-07.

More reading

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  • Berkman, Pamela, ed. (1988). The History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. Brompton Books Corp., Greenwich, CT. ISBN 978-0-517-63350-2.
  • Bryant Jr., Keith L. (1974). History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 978-0-8032-6066-5.
  • The Cosmopolitan (February 1893), The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe. Retrieved May 10, 2005.
  • Darton, N. H. (1915). Guidebook of the Western United States, Part C. The Santa Fe Route. USGS Bulletin 613.
  • Donaldson, Stephen E. & William A. Myers (1989). Rails through the Orange Groves, Volume One. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 978-0-87046-088-3.
    • Donaldson, Stephen E. & William A. Myers (1990). Rails through the Orange Groves, Volume Two. Trans-Anglo Books, Glendale, CA. ISBN 978-0-87046-094-4.
  • Duke, Donald; Kistler, Stan (1963). Santa Fe...Steel Rails through California. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA.
  • Duke, Donald (1997). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume One. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 978-0-87095-110-7.
  • Duke, Donald (1990). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume Two. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 978-0-87095-113-8.
  • Duke, Donald. Fred Harvey, civilizer of the American Southwest (Pregel Press, 1995); The passenger trains stopped for meals at Fred Harvey restaurants.
  • Dye, Victoria E. All Aboard for Santa Fe: Railway Promotion of the Southwest, 1890s to 1930s (University of New Mexico Press, 2007).
  • Foster, George H. & Peter C. Weiglin (1992). The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of Dining along the Santa Fe Railroad. Longstreet Press, Atlanta, GA. ISBN 978-1-56352-357-1.
  • Frailey, Fred W. (1998). Twilight of the Great Trains, p. 108. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0 89024 178 3.
  • Richard H. Frost, The Railroad and the Pueblo Indians: The Impact of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa fe on the Pueblos of the Rio Grande, 1880-1930. 2016, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN 978-1-607-81440-5
  • Glischinski, Steve (1997). Santa Fe Railway. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International. ISBN 978-0-7603-0380-1.
  • Goen, Steve Allen (2000). Santa Fe in the Lone Star State
  • Hendrickson, Richard H. (1998). Santa Fe Railway Painting and Lettering Guide for Model Railroaders, Volume 1: Rolling Stock. The Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society, Inc., Highlands Ranch, CO.
  • Marshall, James Leslie. Santa Fe: the railroad that built an empire (1945).
  • Pelouze, Richard W. (1997). Trademarks of the Santa Fe Railway and Peripheral Subjects. The Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society, Inc., Highlands Ranch, CO. ISBN 9781933587066.
  • Porterfield, James D. (1993). Dining by Rail: the History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroading. St. Martin's Press, New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-312-18711-8.
  • Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University (2004), Alumni Profiles: W. John Swartz. Retrieved May 11, 2005.
  • Santa Fe Railroad (1945), Along Your Way, Rand McNally, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Santa Fe Railroad (November 29, 1942), Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway System Time Tables, Rand McNally and Company, Chicago, Illinois.
  • Serpico, Philip C. (1988). Santa Fé: Route to the Pacific. Hawthorne Printing Co., Gardena, CA. ISBN 978-0-88418-000-5.
  • Solomon, Brian. Santa Fe Railway (Voyageur Press, 2003).
  • Waters, Lawrence Leslie (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas.
  • Snell, Joseph W. and Don W. Wilson, "The Birth of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad," (Part One) Kansas Historical Quarterly (1968) 34#2 pp 113–142. online
    • Snell, Joseph W. and Don W. Wilson, "The Birth of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad," (Part Two) Kansas Historical Quarterly (1968) 34#3 pp 325–356 online
  • White, Richard (2011). Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06126-0.

Other websites

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
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