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The Greatest Railroad Ever:
The Atchison, Topeka, and The Santa Fe:
A profitable trade between Santa Fe and the eastern U.S. existed since 1811, when William Becknell led the first expedition there. It took 80 to 90 days for a wagon train to reach Santa Fe from Missouri. Enter Cyrus Kurtz Holliday. He wanted to build a railroad to connect Santa Fe with the east. He also meant to establish a new town that would be at one end of the route. This he accomplished first, when he established Topeka, Kansas. In 1860, he joined forces with Luther C. Challis, to build the railroad from Topeka to Atchison, Kansas.
In March 1863, Congress granted land use of nearly three billion acres. However, the grants would be rescinded if the railroad had not reached the Colorado border. On October 30, 1868, ground was broken for the railroad. The first project was a bridge across the Kaw River. Pauline was the first station, just six miles from town. The first train was called the Wakarusa Picnic Special, which took its inaugural run on April 26, 1869. By 1871, the tracks reached Dodge City, an important center in the cow business. The line took some of the business away from a pre-existing line known as the Kansas Pacific Railroad.
The track reached the Colorado border by 1872. As the railroad went west though, its builders realized it couldn’t make any profit unless the territory through which it passed was populated. So it opened a land office and vigorously promoted land in its right of way, offering discounted train tickets to inspect the land, which was applied to the purchase if the prospect bought land. The 1870s did not produce much result, as that decade was marked with grasshopper plagues and severe droughts. One group of Russian Mennonites stayed and grew hardy strains of grains. The railroad helped them out by hauling seed grain and equipment for free. The favor was repaid when successful farms were established that shipped via the railroad.
On March 1, 1876, the line reached Pueblo, Colorado. The railroad was especially excited about this accomplishment since rich coal mines in the area would ensure a steady stream of goods passing from west to east. From there, the railroad turned its sights south. It wanted to reach Santa Fe to open up grade. So did the Denver & Rio Grande. The race was on to conquer Raton Pass, a strategic location on the route. Through legal maneuvers, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe acquired the rights to lay track. A couple of times crews nearly came to blows over the right of way. Finally D&RG was confined to Colorado, while the ATSF built into the southwest.
The line reached California on March 8, 1881, making it the second transcontinental railroad. From there the railroad also bought half interest in the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway, known as the Frisco. This extended their domain up the coast. In the east, they bought the Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railway. Now the ATSF had over 7,000 miles of track. By 1880, the railroad had 5,530 pieces of rolling stocks (locomotives and boxcars). The Baldwin Locomotive Works built many of the early steam engines.
During the depression of the 1890s, the railroad had difficulty paying its bills. The railroad went into receivership. Edward Ripley became its president and rescued it from ruin. He helped win over the people of California, when he led some California investors to build a competing line in the San Joaquin Valley, where the Southern Pacific was charging exorbitant rates.
Starting in the 1870s, Fred Harvey built his famous Harvey Houses. Up until that time, meals provided to railroad passengers were unappetizing and scanty. He opened his first restaurant along the Santa Fe line in Topeka. It was a huge success. He built one after the other along the line and gained a reputation for fine dining with good service at a reasonable price. He even operated at a loss much of the time, so much did he want to provide good food.
He also recruited heavily for “girls of good character” to serve in his restaurants. The “Harvey Girls” frequently married Santa Fe engineers, conductors, and other railroad people.
He also took control of the service that provided snacks and reading material while on board. He upgraded the quality of both, resulting in a huge increase in sales. When dining cars were in regular use, Harvey also took on that business for the ATSF.
In 1905, the railroad was in the spotlight when Walter Scott, better known as Death Valley Scotty, hired the railroad to take him from Los Angeles to Chicago. The challenge was to make the run in the fastest time ever--less than 46 hours. The Coyote Special left Los Angeles on July 9. Crowds lined the route, watching the progress of the special train. A newsman was on board, wiring stories of the train to the press. Several speed records were broken on the route. The train arrived in Chicago on July 11, 44 hours and 45 minutes later.
In World War I, the ATSF and other railroads faced a serious situation. Trains were being taken over for shipment of soldiers and war materiel. This was seriously affecting regular traffic. In addition, union representation had scaled back the work day to eight hours and there was threat of a strike. The federal government stepped in and created the U.S. Railroad Administration. This agency organized traffic flow, repaired equipment, maintained the tracks, and paid wages.
After the war, control was returned to the individual railroads. During that time, railroads had to use competitor rails to maximize efficiency. Railroads frequently had to repair stock belonging to someone else. The agency allowed a rate increase but it barely covered higher wages for employees and higher taxes. The railroad itself became almost totally unionized.
In 1933, the first diesel prototypes were made by General Motors. The railroad industry was interested in these because it needed something to revolutionize the industry to make up for passengers lost to automobile traffic. The ATSF completed its first diesel locomotive in 1937, called Super Chief. It required $4 million in upgrades to the rail due to the higher speed and greater weight of the train. It would make better time too because water stops would no longer be required. The trains also towed Pullman sleeper cars. They could also pull a bigger load up a grade. The Jeep, a second diesel was purchased in 1938, a 5,400 hp engine. The El Capitan arrived on the Los Angeles to Chicago line in 1938. The Super Chief was used extensively in Hollywood pictures. By 1959, ATSF retired all of its steam engines. Eventually it also sell all of its passenger service to Amtrak in 1973.
The railroad somehow survived the Great Depression. But what affected it more was the dust bowl drought years because so much of its track served those states affected. Workers agreed to a 10% reduction in salary to minimize the need for layoffs. New track laying projects were abandoned and so were some lesser used routes. Samuel Bledsoe became the new president and kept the railroad afloat. One new line was completed in the Pecos Valley. This line was connected to a potash company, a sure revenue generator.
Bledsoe also started buying up trucking lines, so that at least some of the competing transportation was its own. By the end of the decade the railroad was once again buying stock. And work started again on a track between Boise City, Oklahoma, and Las Animas, Colorado that has been halted in 1931. Purchase of the Frisco line in Texas also helped cut off 117 miles on the Fort Worth to California route.
Bledsoe unexpectedly died in 1939. The board quickly appointed Edward Engel. Engel continued the upgrade to diesel locomotives. He also began air conditioning passenger cars. For the first time since 1931, shareholders received a dividend $2.50/share. Some of the lines main stations were remodeled.
World War II once again brought enormous freight and passenger business to the railroad. It ran the main route between Chicago and the west coast. The railroads experienced labor shortages as men went to war or worked in war industries. Many women came to work at the railroads. The railroad bought excess steam engines from eastern railroads that were no longer using them. The railroads experienced heavy losses, however, because the government only had to pay half fare and freight rates. The ATSF asked federal permission to hire Mexican labor to replace the many employers who had gone to war. Some 4,250 Mexicans were employed at one time.
Fred Gurley took over as president in August 1944. He purchased a new line in Oklahoma City, giving access to a lucrative stockyard and meat packing industry. It also reached Long Beach, California, a new center for aircraft plants and harbor operations. After the war, money was spent to upgrade communications and dispatch systems. Two-way radios were used by on board crews and remote switching was used for routing. Service and speed was improved tremendously. It also took steps to unplug bottlenecks, such as replacing two strategically important but outdated bridges that required too much reduction in speed.
After the war, the ATSF started an airline that was strictly for freight. Many of the early flights supplied foodstuffs for the Harvey Houses. Unfortunately, it only lasted two years, since the Civil Aeronautics Board would not grant a common carrier license. So the railroad found other ways to survive by getting more efficient and faster. It specialized in produce trains that used special ice cars. More population growth and raw businesses in the southwest resulted in new business. The railroad also purchased more feeder lines and small railways to service specific manufacturers, such as the International Harvester Co., near Chicago.
In the 1950s things were shaky because both taxes and wages were increasing rapidly. Passenger fares were also declining. Ernest S. Marsh became president in 1958. His contribution was to modernize some of the freight cars and tracks. He also acquired some subsidiary lines in Texas. In 1967, John S. Reed took over as president. He started a training program through the University of Southern California for executives. He started a piggyback service for transporting truck trailers. New low maintenance welded rails were installed. He also continued to acquire new lines.
Other equipment and rail improvements continued throughout the 1980s. The railroad also finally merged with the Southern Pacific. The railroad was renamed the Santa Fe Southern Pacific. Its logo was redesigned and the engines were painted a different color. Some layoffs were required to cut expenses, though early retirement packages were offered when possible. The railroad expanded its interests to include real estate, petroleum products and pipelines, and timber. Today the SFSP is at the front of its game and is still going strong, through diversified interests.
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