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It was "El Capitan," not "El Captain." In the 1950's I lived in a house very near the Santa Fe tracks in Cucamonga, California. I really enjoyed watching those trains zip by.
The engine is not a "Two Eighty". It is a "Two, Eight, Oh". That number schema represents the engine's wheel layout. Two leading wheels, eight drivers, and zero trailing wheels.
Ryan, as you now know, railroad fans are a tough crowd, they certainly know their stuff. Regardless, this presentation was very enjoyable and informative. Wouldn't mind seeing you make this into a series that included other great railroads. Just be sure to have at least one or two RR fanatics preview it before it's released, haha! Keep up the good work!
Burlington NORTHERN Santa Fe......the UPRR was not about to let BN get away with buying the Santa Fe at a bargain basement price and proceeded to bid up the price of Santa Fe stock from something like $17 to over $100! UP wanted the Santa Fe too but it was happy to let the BN take it but at a much steeper price than the BN had counted on. All of the Santa Fe stockholders owe a debt of gratitude to the UP's management for not letting the BN steal the Santa Fe for pennies on the dollar. When that deal went down, the UP announced it was going to petition the government to allow it to convert its non-voting preferred shares of the CNW, which it had bought to prevent the CNW from being dismembered and destroyed by a buyout firm called Japonica Partners. UP's petition was granted and the UP swallowed up the CNW and shortly after, the Southern Pacific. It is ironic that the SP and UP were once owned by Harriman but he was forced to divest the SP by the federal government due to anti-trust concerns.
@@chuckythedoll4815 I only have that knowledge because I was working for the CNW as an engineer in Chicago and I kept on top of what was going on. We CNW employees viewed UP's intervention in saving the CNW from Japonica as a blessing and set us up for a take over or merger with the largest and richest RR in America, if not the world, the UPRR. If Japonica had gotten a hold of the CNW they would have looted it and sold it off piece by piece. As Bob Schmiege, then CEO of CNW, wrote to me in response to a letter I wrote to him, he said he was basically powerless since Japonica put the CNW in play with their hostile take over bid. The UP was not about to allow those yahoos at Japonica wreck the UP's main connection to Chicago and set about buying as much stock as it could (which I believe was later converted to non-voting preferred stock as a stipulation to assuage regulators concerns about anti-trust or what ever it was that troubled them) to block Japonica. And that's what happened. UP was eventually allowed to convert the preferred to common stock and vote the shares as it saw fit and then the take over of CNW followed soon after. All's well that ends well, right? We CNW employees dodged another bullet! For most of my career it seemed like CNW had one foot in the grave but thankfully the CNW had executives that had skin in the CNW and wanted it to succeed as a RR. They were NOT like that a-hole Jack Welch who only wanted to milk GE for capital and destroyed one of the greatest industrial manufacturers in American history. Corporate raiding was all the rage back then and Tribune financial columnist/reporter William Neikirk dubbed it "Nightmare On Wall Street" referring to all the LBOs that were destroying one company after another.
UP knew it wouldn’t get the Santa Fe. As you said, it just wanted to drive the price up (benefitted me). Same game Canadian National played by bidding up Kansas City Southern to make it more expensive for Canadian Pacific,
They ended up nearly choking themselves to death over both the CNW and SP. Both mergers showed the UP was not competent enough to expand. They had the money but not the wits to maneuver through a merger seamlessly like the CN-IC, BN-ATSF, CN-IC mergers.
One thing you can often ID an SF line by, is the style of road crossing. They used these super high quality concrete pads bordered with steel. They always stand out and we’re built to last forever. You can still see them all over on their old lines.
The Santa Fe imo was the greatest of all time US railroads. Everything from the sleek Warbonnets leading the Super Chief to the high priority intermodal speedsters of the 90s. It's so ingrained with the image of the southwest that not seeing a Santa Fe logo somewhere just doesn't seem right.
We may disagree on what "was the greatest of all time US railroads." However, I think we can agree the Santa Fe Railway and its logo are ingrained with the image of the Southwestern U.S. I rode the El Ca-pi-tan (which does mean Captain in Spanish) train more than once when I was a child. To me what was most impressive about the Santa Fe Ry. is the high level of passenger service they maintained until Amtrak.
Hey Ryan, I just wanted to let you know that you and one other UA-cam history channel have actually figured out how to make history interesting for me! I graduated likely well before you were born, but if my high school history teachers would have presented their lessons the way both of you do, my grades would have been far better! I've been subscribed for quite a long time now, and I have enjoyed every episode so far! Thank you for the awesome content!
Thank you, Ryan. Loved the old photos of San Diego's Depot. Great to see the famous Bekins warehouse, the two mission-style towers on the Depot and San Diego Gas & Electric's (SDG&E) generator, steam & trolley barn.
On the plus side (I won't dwell on any more negatives), that's a great photo at the beginning of the El Ca-pi-tan (which does mean Captain in Spanish) Hi-level lounge car. I rode this train more than once when I was a child in both its standard and Hi-level versions. For me what is most impressive about the Santa Fe Railway was the high level of passenger service they maintained until Amtrak.
In Fort Madison, Iowa there is really neat old Santa Fe depot being used as an Amtrak station/museum. Really beautiful spot along the Mississippi River. There’s a Santa Fe caboose and a giant AT & SF BigBoy engine 2613 I believe stationed close by. Wish I could post photos to this.
Don't mean to correct you, but that Santa Fe locomotive is NOT a Big Boy. The Big Boy was a Union Pacific locomotive, with two sets of four driving axels totaling a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, with the front set of wheels as the front articulated engine under the boiler, and the second set of wheels fixed under the firebox and cab. The locomotive in Fort Madison is a Santa Fe Class 2900 with a 4-8-4 wheel arrangement. Locos with this wheel arrangements were called a "Northern".
My favorite railroad. Main line passed through my town west of Newton. Great Uncle Al ran the steamer back in the day. Rode . Nice trip Amtrak from Newton to Albuquerque and back in the 90's. Nice trip
Burlington NORTHERN, not north. el capiTAN, not el captain. Also, ATSF made out like a bandit after the SPSF merger attempt, they ended up owning most of the non railroad properties from the SP.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Burlington from the Burlington Route railroad, Northern from Great Northern and Northern Pacific, and Santa Fe from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe.
It's Burlington Northern not Burlington North. Also the Greatest Railroad in the U.S. is ,( was ) , the Pennsylvania Railroad and as someone already comment, it's a 2-8-0 not a 280 engine. Go by wheel arrangement.
Growing up in Chicago in the 1960's, we heard the nightly news, sponsored by the Santa Fe passenger division. I can hear the jingle clearly in my head, "🎶 On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" 🎶 I believe directly from the song.
There are still a few 1920s Santa Fe T2 Semaphores between Wagon Mound, NM and Colmor, NM. A handful of Santa Fe depots are still standing and with some Harvey Houses: the best example being in Las Vegas, NM.
I absolutely love your videos. They've become a huge part of my days and have done a lot to improve my depression. Thank you so much. Some of your videos just like you've suggested have hit close to home.
0:22 The Santa Fe did not "fall". It did not "fade into obscurity". It became an integral part of a large railroad company. It was merged with the Burlington Northern because of the high qualities it brought to one of the most successful mergers in railroad history. The BNSF of today stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, so they live on as a marriage between two successful and influential railroads that are still leaders in the railroad industry.
From a corporate standpoint you are right. However, as a passenger train company it failed. We can You thank the changing lifestyles and the BIG3 car companies that did everything to destroy railroad companies.
@@laheart1957 - Santa Fe's standards on their passenger trains were kept high until the very end when Amtrak took them over, so I wouldn't consider their passenger service a "failure". More than it was a service that had reached it's end. Just like when a person dies of old age, we don't consider them a failure. A stipulation agreed upon by Amtrak was that to use the names of Santa Fe's famous passenger trains, Amtrak had to maintain a specific level of service. They did not. Santa Fe sued Amtrak to remove those names, and Amtrak was forced to. But yes, passenger volumes dropped to very low levels during the 60s. Like almost every other railroad - except for Rock Island, Denver and Rio Grande Western and the Southern Railway - Santa Fe let Amtrak take over because it was the financially prudent thing to do.
15:35 The Super C. Chicago to LA in 40hrs. Sante Fe was reluctant to give up the Super Chief as it was so somewhat profitable at the time. Their mainline is still rigged for 90mph for most of the run.
I certainly remember the Sante Fe, and the Zephyr which I don't recall running with SF. My grandfather started out around Searsboro IA in the Roundhouse, moving up to a fireman then an engineer and onto a road crew. He ended up in Los Angeles working for SP but on Pacific Electric, working in the repair facilities. I have his certificate from Baldwin Locomotive for a Fireman and then an Engineer from 1903. Love the RR history, country wouldn't be what it is today if it wasn't for the RR. Great video, loved it.
At 10:35, the Frisco route was never purchased by AT&SF in the time period of 1888. Frisco remained as independent from it's 1876 founding until November, 1980, when it was absorbed by Burlington Northern.
I have a couple of connections to the Santa Fe. My grandfather earned a degree in physics on the GI bill after sailing with the Navy during WW2, and after a stint on the Manhattan project, spent the majority of the 50s working in the R&D department at ATSF. His team developed the first cushioned drawbar, marketed it as the Shock Control boxcar, and demonstrated it by loading the prototype with bottles of California wine, waybilling it to bang through every switch yard on the system, then opened it in Chicago with the press attending. Every single bottle was intact and not a drop was spilled. After that, his team designed and built the company's, if not country's, first track geometry car. The prototype was a boxcar with a caboose cupola plopped on top, and mechanical measuring equipment fed their data onto long strips of paper for analysis later. When the equipment was working properly, Grandpa sat up in the cupola, snapping pictures of the scenery along the mainline. One last anecdote. As an ATSF employee, he frequently rode the cushions, traveling to meetings aboard the Super Chief. Whenever he came home from such trips, Grandma sent him straight to the laundry room and thereupon to the shower, because he reeked of tobacco. What we don't hear about when folks wax nostalgic about golden age rail travel, is that smoking was the norm, and even nonsmokers couldn't get away from the stench of tobacco smoke aboard even the most prestigious trains. Super Chief passengers regularly sat in their private rooms and chain smoked from LA to Chicago, and no amount of cleaning could eradicate the smell.
There were railroads.....and then there was thr Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Great video; note that it was the Southern Pacific that was bought out by Rio Grande Industries (which took on the SP name). Of course the AT&SF went on to meege with the BN to create the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad which has since legally changed its name to BNSF (not just shorthhand, but this the railroad's official name).
Ryan -I appreciate your wanting to share railroad history, but you give away your novice status, as others have noted when you refer to the 2-8-0 consolidation locomotive as a two eighty instead of two eight O. Also when you call the Burlington Northern railroad the Burlington North. A little deeper dig into your source material or a consult with another rail enthusiast should have helped inform you.
And the San Diegan as the San Diego. As well as the fact the ATSF never served Las Vegas, NV. That again was Union Pacific. The Santa Fe served Las Vegas, NM. Yeah there were a definite number of grating issues. And I’m less willing to be forgiving when this is supposed to be accurate about history really. I mean overall decent but. If it was just a casual “hey here’s some neat casual stuff” deal I’d be a bit more lenient on it. Two smaller nitpicks is I dunno if I’d consider Sacramento/SanFran as “Northern California”. No one I’ve ever known from there has. NorCal wa more a Southern Pacific deal, and the “transcon” route outside of Garden City of the places listed, wasn’t served by the ATSF. The rest were UP.
Ditto to all the corrections in the comments… research twice, film once. Unless you’re purposely screwing things up on boost comments, then more power to you congratulations mission accomplished
As a child I rode the Santa Fe Railroad from Chicago to California to visit family there in 1961 when I was 5. I remember being fascinated when the train rounded a long curve and I saw the back of the train moving in the opposite direction than we were going. When we stopped briefly in Texas Mom said "Let's get out so we can stand on the ground in Texas." As soon as we hit the platform she said "Oh my God, it's so hot here! Let's get back in the train!" So I spent approximately one minute standing on the ground in Texas.
the entire story of the SF=SP merger as well all the shenanigans Rio Grande and the Southern were doing is quite fascinating. also Sprint, the telecom company that merged with Tmobile, was the Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephone company before being sold off.
I played Trainstation 2 on my old phone, I kept leaving behind all the good locomotives when I went to the new maps because I was progressing too fast. Also the UI was permanently burned into the screen lol.
A pretty good summary of what happened to the Santa Fe to those outside of the industry. Of course there's a lot more to it but you hit all the high spots to give an overall understanding. All the foamers will be out for blood because you didn't include the Warbonnet paint job. Good job anyway.
17:04 An important point omitted was that a big reason AT&SF was financially weakened was it fought off a hostile takeover by the Henley Group which wanted the real estate holdings. Had it succeeded, it would have probably gutted and spun off the railroad making it weaker still instead of being valuable enough for BN to fight UP.
16:50 -- Expecting the merger to go through, they painted several locomotives in the new "SP/SF" paint scheme. After the deal fell through, the joke was that the paint scheme stood for "Shouldn't Paint So Fast" . . .
Thankful for how much of the fallen flag schemes are still out there especially in big port cities and local shortlines. If anyone wants guaranteed catches of cascade green, executive/vomit bonnets, warbonnetts, and bloody noses, head on down to Houston primarily the large port area, if you go to beaumont it’s likely you will catch two geeps one in pumpkin gen 1, cascade green, and they usually have a cascade green triclops in the lead most days
Time to nit pick. It was the Southern Pacific that was acquired by Rio Grande Industries not the Santa Fe. The name of the railroad is the Burlington Northern not the Burlington North. The steam locomotive you mentioned at the end is not a "280" but a 2-8-0 "Consolidation type" according to the Whyte Notation system for steam locomotive wheel classification.
I remember as a kid growing up in the late 50's and early 60's marveling over the Lionel Sante Fe train set in the store and not being able to afford it! 😩😭😂
Remember when we were just wee lads and wanted a train set for Christmas and low and behold there sat the train going round and round the tree Christmas morning? Well the BNSF goes round and round Warren Buffet’s Christmas tree.
Great video, except the ATSF's "humble beginnings" were not in Topeka. While RR did build its first office/headquarters in Topeka, it was of course founded at its easternmost terminus, Atchison...
You didn't even mention grand canyon railway that ATSF built. In 1901 they started taking passengers from Williams, AZ to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I'm interested in the deeper history of this line in particular.
They also built the hotel and restaurant there. ATSF management recognized the potential for tourism and invested in what became an historic building, and a still sought after destination for millions of people every year.
The bulk of the Newkirk to Shawnee route was abandoned long before the BNSF merger. Only parts remained in service through local service until they were cast off to small branch line class companies… You skipped over an interesting event that occurred when the ATSF and DRG fought a rail war over who would build through the Royal Gorge.
After 1865 the US government was broke from civil war debt, the best it could do was to guarantee railway bonds to investors, these bonds were authorized after completion of certain track mileage, and the conditions encountered, thus straight and level track was much less than mountain or tunnel track. In both cases it was far less than the actual construction cost. What the railways did get was land, lots of land, but without railway service the land was worthless since there was no way to get to it Some of this land had valuable mineral deposits other land could be sold to farmers and ranchers, some could be sold off to developers in the cities that grew up around the new railway stations. Bonds issued were paid off by the Union Pacific and Western Pacific railways with company funds on a timely basis with no government funding involved. The government takeover of the railways during WWone was a disaster for both the railroads and the government and was not repeated during WWtwo.
Growing up in the 70s & 80s in the west. The cascade green of the Burlington NORTHERN was a very cherished sight. But I'm sure you were deprived of such a sight, so I'll let you slide this time. 😁
That truck freight took over train freight is mind boggling to me. Sure, truck is king for the last mile - but trains (or ships) should be king for the rest (barring some really weird corner cases).
First of all, it was the Southern Pacific which was sold off to Rio Grande Industries and not the Santa Fe after their merger attempt failed. The Santa Fe never went to Las Vegas, NEVADA but it did go to Las Vegas, NEW MEXICO. As others has pointed out, it was the Burlington NorthERN that merged with the Santa Fe and the steam engine was a two-eight-O model not two eighty. You generally make informative videos, but this one had too many errors.
The proposed SP SF merger when equipment in both prototype and models failed, people coined the term for the SPSF as "Shouldn't Paint So Fast". Models in this paint scheme can still be found today. I have a box car in this scheme.
i am from the UK and a UP fan but i also know it is Burlington Northern not Burlington north great presentation but please let some rail fans go over it
The first TRUE transcontental railroad in the US was Amtrak. It was the first rr that went from the went from the east coast to the west. Before then, freight and passengers had to change trains in places like Chicago or St. Louis.
I rode from Detroit to Pasadena in 1968. Not only did I have to change trains in Chicago, I had to change stations. Penn Central went to Union Station, while the AT&SF went to Dearborn Street Station.
The comment section is about to be toxic. I'm a transit (mainly "bus") foamer, but train foamers are on a whole 'nother level of critiquing. Good luck, Ryan 😅🤙🏾
"connecting the country seaa to sea" Chicago doesn't count, the Southern Pacifc, Union Pacific, "the Hill Lines"(Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, and Colorado, Spokane, and Southern) eventually the Burlington Northern existed, and never really went further east than Illinois, and this is followed by the fact that the PRR, NYC (eventually Penn Central, and Conrail), B&O, C&O, and other eastern roads existed at the time. overlooked? Nah. Just look at the amount of Santa Fe related merch & references to the ATSF and you'll see they've left there mark. Alot of ATSF equipment is preserved, or is still in operation (note, I'm excluding the Union Pacific, which does still exist), such equipment range from boxcars uses as covered bridges, privately owned cabooses, locomotives, passenger cars, and other cars. ATSF holds to the likes of the Union Pacific, and a few eastern roads, notably either the PRR, oir NYC in terms of cultural significance, though....in terms of iconic liveries, the ATSF, and Southern Pacific, MAYBE the PRR blow all current & past liveries out of the park. The Warbonnet, Daylight, and Tuscan red are some of the most revered American liveries, and that's leaving out locomotives.
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Sorry, not working for me.
I already have it
I'd love for you to do a rise and fall of Southern Pacific video.
It was "El Capitan," not "El Captain." In the 1950's I lived in a house very near the Santa Fe tracks in Cucamonga, California. I really enjoyed watching those trains zip by.
hopefully you don't live in that city now. I heard of two annoying people live there.
San Diegan, not San Diego.
Ah, the next stop past Anaheim and Azusa!
Burlington NorthERN. But good work, as always!!
Beat me to it 🙂
BN had the best logo!
The engine is not a "Two Eighty". It is a "Two, Eight, Oh". That number schema represents the engine's wheel layout. Two leading wheels, eight drivers, and zero trailing wheels.
You're probably one of those Foamers.
Bruh, he’s just telling how it’s actually said
@@plymouth-hl20ton37most definitely
It’s two eight o. There’s no h in o.
@@Jason-rn4jkTechnically, it's two, eight, zero. O is a letter, zero is a number.
. . . Sorry, I couldn't resist. 😉🤣
Ryan, as you now know, railroad fans are a tough crowd, they certainly know their stuff. Regardless, this presentation was very enjoyable and informative. Wouldn't mind seeing you make this into a series that included other great railroads. Just be sure to have at least one or two RR fanatics preview it before it's released, haha! Keep up the good work!
Ryan, thank you for the history lesson about the "ATSF'! Great history there. That railroad was a real trailblazer.
Burlington NORTHERN Santa Fe......the UPRR was not about to let BN get away with buying the Santa Fe at a bargain basement price and proceeded to bid up the price of Santa Fe stock from something like $17 to over $100! UP wanted the Santa Fe too but it was happy to let the BN take it but at a much steeper price than the BN had counted on. All of the Santa Fe stockholders owe a debt of gratitude to the UP's management for not letting the BN steal the Santa Fe for pennies on the dollar. When that deal went down, the UP announced it was going to petition the government to allow it to convert its non-voting preferred shares of the CNW, which it had bought to prevent the CNW from being dismembered and destroyed by a buyout firm called Japonica Partners. UP's petition was granted and the UP swallowed up the CNW and shortly after, the Southern Pacific. It is ironic that the SP and UP were once owned by Harriman but he was forced to divest the SP by the federal government due to anti-trust concerns.
Sounds like I need to be hearing history more from you. Very nice, thank you.
Love those Kodachrome paint schemes they did, what a failed merger.
@@chuckythedoll4815 I only have that knowledge because I was working for the CNW as an engineer in Chicago and I kept on top of what was going on. We CNW employees viewed UP's intervention in saving the CNW from Japonica as a blessing and set us up for a take over or merger with the largest and richest RR in America, if not the world, the UPRR. If Japonica had gotten a hold of the CNW they would have looted it and sold it off piece by piece. As Bob Schmiege, then CEO of CNW, wrote to me in response to a letter I wrote to him, he said he was basically powerless since Japonica put the CNW in play with their hostile take over bid. The UP was not about to allow those yahoos at Japonica wreck the UP's main connection to Chicago and set about buying as much stock as it could (which I believe was later converted to non-voting preferred stock as a stipulation to assuage regulators concerns about anti-trust or what ever it was that troubled them) to block Japonica. And that's what happened. UP was eventually allowed to convert the preferred to common stock and vote the shares as it saw fit and then the take over of CNW followed soon after. All's well that ends well, right? We CNW employees dodged another bullet! For most of my career it seemed like CNW had one foot in the grave but thankfully the CNW had executives that had skin in the CNW and wanted it to succeed as a RR. They were NOT like that a-hole Jack Welch who only wanted to milk GE for capital and destroyed one of the greatest industrial manufacturers in American history. Corporate raiding was all the rage back then and Tribune financial columnist/reporter William Neikirk dubbed it "Nightmare On Wall Street" referring to all the LBOs that were destroying one company after another.
UP knew it wouldn’t get the Santa Fe. As you said, it just wanted to drive the price up (benefitted me). Same game Canadian National played by bidding up Kansas City Southern to make it more expensive for Canadian Pacific,
@@chuckythedoll4815 Barf!
The failed merger resulted in the dissolution of the ICC and the birth of the STB.
They ended up nearly choking themselves to death over both the CNW and SP. Both mergers showed the UP was not competent enough to expand. They had the money but not the wits to maneuver through a merger seamlessly like the CN-IC, BN-ATSF, CN-IC mergers.
One thing you can often ID an SF line by, is the style of road crossing. They used these super high quality concrete pads bordered with steel. They always stand out and we’re built to last forever. You can still see them all over on their old lines.
The Santa Fe imo was the greatest of all time US railroads. Everything from the sleek Warbonnets leading the Super Chief to the high priority intermodal speedsters of the 90s. It's so ingrained with the image of the southwest that not seeing a Santa Fe logo somewhere just doesn't seem right.
We may disagree on what "was the greatest of all time US railroads." However, I think we can agree the Santa Fe Railway and its logo are ingrained with the image of the Southwestern U.S. I rode the El Ca-pi-tan (which does mean Captain in Spanish) train more than once when I was a child. To me what was most impressive about the Santa Fe Ry. is the high level of passenger service they maintained until Amtrak.
Hey Ryan, I just wanted to let you know that you and one other UA-cam history channel have actually figured out how to make history interesting for me! I graduated likely well before you were born, but if my high school history teachers would have presented their lessons the way both of you do, my grades would have been far better! I've been subscribed for quite a long time now, and I have enjoyed every episode so far!
Thank you for the awesome content!
Además, estamos en el Futuro
Las Vegas, NM not Nevada
The original Las Vegas
@@gregsells8549 the Vegas that's not fun
Thank you, Ryan. Loved the old photos of San Diego's Depot. Great to see the famous Bekins warehouse, the two mission-style towers on the Depot and San Diego Gas & Electric's (SDG&E) generator, steam & trolley barn.
On the plus side (I won't dwell on any more negatives), that's a great photo at the beginning of the El Ca-pi-tan (which does mean Captain in Spanish) Hi-level lounge car. I rode this train more than once when I was a child in both its standard and Hi-level versions. For me what is most impressive about the Santa Fe Railway was the high level of passenger service they maintained until Amtrak.
In Fort Madison, Iowa there is really neat old Santa Fe depot being used as an Amtrak station/museum. Really beautiful spot along the Mississippi River. There’s a Santa Fe caboose and a giant AT & SF BigBoy engine 2613 I believe stationed close by. Wish I could post photos to this.
Don't mean to correct you, but that Santa Fe locomotive is NOT a Big Boy. The Big Boy was a Union Pacific locomotive, with two sets of four driving axels totaling a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, with the front set of wheels as the front articulated engine under the boiler, and the second set of wheels fixed under the firebox and cab. The locomotive in Fort Madison is a Santa Fe Class 2900 with a 4-8-4 wheel arrangement. Locos with this wheel arrangements were called a "Northern".
My favorite railroad. Main line passed through my town west of Newton. Great Uncle Al ran the steamer back in the day. Rode . Nice trip Amtrak from Newton to Albuquerque and back in the 90's. Nice trip
Burlington NORTHERN, not north. el capiTAN, not el captain. Also, ATSF made out like a bandit after the SPSF merger attempt, they ended up owning most of the non railroad properties from the SP.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Burlington from the Burlington Route railroad, Northern from Great Northern and Northern Pacific, and Santa Fe from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe.
It's Burlington Northern not Burlington North. Also the Greatest Railroad in the U.S. is ,( was ) , the Pennsylvania Railroad and as someone already comment, it's a 2-8-0 not a 280 engine. Go by wheel arrangement.
Another vote for the mighty Pennsy, RIP.
Go pennsy!!
Yeah, a lot of errors in this video. The author gave it a good try, but struck out on many details.
@@RickF-m2xno kidding. Some of it is inexcusable like “Las VegasNV”. ATSF went through Las Vegas NM.
Growing up in Chicago in the 1960's, we heard the nightly news, sponsored by the Santa Fe passenger division. I can hear the jingle clearly in my head, "🎶 On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe" 🎶 I believe directly from the song.
There are still a few 1920s Santa Fe T2 Semaphores between Wagon Mound, NM and Colmor, NM.
A handful of Santa Fe depots are still standing and with some Harvey Houses: the best example being in Las Vegas, NM.
I absolutely love your videos. They've become a huge part of my days and have done a lot to improve my depression. Thank you so much. Some of your videos just like you've suggested have hit close to home.
0:22 The Santa Fe did not "fall". It did not "fade into obscurity". It became an integral part of a large railroad company. It was merged with the Burlington Northern because of the high qualities it brought to one of the most successful mergers in railroad history. The BNSF of today stands for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, so they live on as a marriage between two successful and influential railroads that are still leaders in the railroad industry.
From a corporate standpoint you are right.
However, as a passenger train company it failed. We can You thank the changing lifestyles and the BIG3 car companies that did everything to destroy railroad companies.
@@laheart1957 - Santa Fe's standards on their passenger trains were kept high until the very end when Amtrak took them over, so I wouldn't consider their passenger service a "failure". More than it was a service that had reached it's end. Just like when a person dies of old age, we don't consider them a failure.
A stipulation agreed upon by Amtrak was that to use the names of Santa Fe's famous passenger trains, Amtrak had to maintain a specific level of service. They did not. Santa Fe sued Amtrak to remove those names, and Amtrak was forced to.
But yes, passenger volumes dropped to very low levels during the 60s. Like almost every other railroad - except for Rock Island, Denver and Rio Grande Western and the Southern Railway - Santa Fe let Amtrak take over because it was the financially prudent thing to do.
15:35 The Super C. Chicago to LA in 40hrs. Sante Fe was reluctant to give up the Super Chief as it was so somewhat profitable at the time. Their mainline is still rigged for 90mph for most of the run.
I certainly remember the Sante Fe, and the Zephyr which I don't recall running with SF. My grandfather started out around Searsboro IA in the Roundhouse, moving up to a fireman then an engineer and onto a road crew. He ended up in Los Angeles working for SP but on Pacific Electric, working in the repair facilities. I have his certificate from Baldwin Locomotive for a Fireman and then an Engineer from 1903. Love the RR history, country wouldn't be what it is today if it wasn't for the RR. Great video, loved it.
Thanks for the video! My third great grandfather was president of ATSF for most of the 1880s.
At 10:35, the Frisco route was never purchased by AT&SF in the time period of 1888. Frisco remained as independent from it's 1876 founding until November, 1980, when it was absorbed by Burlington Northern.
Great video guys! You guys have become my new preferred history account. Better than history channel. Lol
Great effort, Ryan. I knew this one was going to be a tough one as railfans can be quite difficult.
I have a couple of connections to the Santa Fe. My grandfather earned a degree in physics on the GI bill after sailing with the Navy during WW2, and after a stint on the Manhattan project, spent the majority of the 50s working in the R&D department at ATSF. His team developed the first cushioned drawbar, marketed it as the Shock Control boxcar, and demonstrated it by loading the prototype with bottles of California wine, waybilling it to bang through every switch yard on the system, then opened it in Chicago with the press attending. Every single bottle was intact and not a drop was spilled.
After that, his team designed and built the company's, if not country's, first track geometry car. The prototype was a boxcar with a caboose cupola plopped on top, and mechanical measuring equipment fed their data onto long strips of paper for analysis later. When the equipment was working properly, Grandpa sat up in the cupola, snapping pictures of the scenery along the mainline.
One last anecdote. As an ATSF employee, he frequently rode the cushions, traveling to meetings aboard the Super Chief. Whenever he came home from such trips, Grandma sent him straight to the laundry room and thereupon to the shower, because he reeked of tobacco. What we don't hear about when folks wax nostalgic about golden age rail travel, is that smoking was the norm, and even nonsmokers couldn't get away from the stench of tobacco smoke aboard even the most prestigious trains. Super Chief passengers regularly sat in their private rooms and chain smoked from LA to Chicago, and no amount of cleaning could eradicate the smell.
There were railroads.....and then there was thr Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Great video; note that it was the Southern Pacific that was bought out by Rio Grande Industries (which took on the SP name). Of course the AT&SF went on to meege with the BN to create the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad which has since legally changed its name to BNSF (not just shorthhand, but this the railroad's official name).
Thank you for more of the History of the Santa Fe
Ryan -I appreciate your wanting to share railroad history, but you give away your novice status, as others have noted when you refer to the 2-8-0 consolidation locomotive as a two eighty instead of two eight O. Also when you call the Burlington Northern railroad the Burlington North. A little deeper dig into your source material or a consult with another rail enthusiast should have helped inform you.
@@billbruff9613 not only that but also calling The El Capitain, the el Captain.
@@billbruff9613 nevertheless, this video is well done and filled with great historical information.
And the San Diegan as the San Diego.
As well as the fact the ATSF never served Las Vegas, NV. That again was Union Pacific. The Santa Fe served Las Vegas, NM. Yeah there were a definite number of grating issues. And I’m less willing to be forgiving when this is supposed to be accurate about history really. I mean overall decent but. If it was just a casual “hey here’s some neat casual stuff” deal I’d be a bit more lenient on it.
Two smaller nitpicks is I dunno if I’d consider Sacramento/SanFran as “Northern California”. No one I’ve ever known from there has. NorCal wa more a Southern Pacific deal, and the “transcon” route outside of Garden City of the places listed, wasn’t served by the ATSF. The rest were UP.
Ditto to all the corrections in the comments… research twice, film once. Unless you’re purposely screwing things up on boost comments, then more power to you congratulations mission accomplished
As a child I rode the Santa Fe Railroad from Chicago to California to visit family there in 1961 when I was 5. I remember being fascinated when the train rounded a long curve and I saw the back of the train moving in the opposite direction than we were going. When we stopped briefly in Texas Mom said "Let's get out so we can stand on the ground in Texas." As soon as we hit the platform she said "Oh my God, it's so hot here! Let's get back in the train!" So I spent approximately one minute standing on the ground in Texas.
From the Warner Brothers cartoon "The Big Snooze", 1946: "Oh, no! Here it comes! The Super Chief!" Bugs Bunny
Really enjoy your videos especially railroad history.
the entire story of the SF=SP merger as well all the shenanigans Rio Grande and the Southern were doing is quite fascinating. also Sprint, the telecom company that merged with Tmobile, was the Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephone company before being sold off.
You mentioned BN a few times as Burlington North, when did it change to Burlington Northern. Awesome video as always.
I played Trainstation 2 on my old phone, I kept leaving behind all the good locomotives when I went to the new maps because I was progressing too fast. Also the UI was permanently burned into the screen lol.
A pretty good summary of what happened to the Santa Fe to those outside of the industry. Of course there's a lot more to it but you hit all the high spots to give an overall understanding. All the foamers will be out for blood because you didn't include the Warbonnet paint job. Good job anyway.
Another great video, Ryan. Thanks.
Fantastic! 👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻
Definitely looking forward to see more videos like this, Milwaukee Road, Rio Grande, Southern Pacific, Rock Island....
17:04 An important point omitted was that a big reason AT&SF was financially weakened was it fought off a hostile takeover by the Henley Group which wanted the real estate holdings. Had it succeeded, it would have probably gutted and spun off the railroad making it weaker still instead of being valuable enough for BN to fight UP.
To train lovers like me, That road isnt forgotten and with model railroaders it never will be at least for a very long time.
16:50 -- Expecting the merger to go through, they painted several locomotives in the new "SP/SF" paint scheme. After the deal fell through, the joke was that the paint scheme stood for "Shouldn't Paint So Fast" . . .
Ah yes, another 🚂 video. Nice, great video Ryan 👍🏽😎👍🏽
Thankful for how much of the fallen flag schemes are still out there especially in big port cities and local shortlines. If anyone wants guaranteed catches of cascade green, executive/vomit bonnets, warbonnetts, and bloody noses, head on down to Houston primarily the large port area, if you go to beaumont it’s likely you will catch two geeps one in pumpkin gen 1, cascade green, and they usually have a cascade green triclops in the lead most days
It’s actually Las Vegas, New Mexico. Santa Fe’s closest stop to Vegas is Barstow, CA.
Time to nit pick. It was the Southern Pacific that was acquired by Rio Grande Industries not the Santa Fe. The name of the railroad is the Burlington Northern not the Burlington North. The steam locomotive you mentioned at the end is not a "280" but a 2-8-0 "Consolidation type" according to the Whyte Notation system for steam locomotive wheel classification.
I remember as a kid growing up in the late 50's and early 60's marveling over the Lionel Sante Fe train set in the store and not being able to afford it!
😩😭😂
Please do a video on the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Remember when we were just wee lads and wanted a train set for Christmas and low and behold there sat the train going round and round the tree Christmas morning? Well the BNSF goes round and round Warren Buffet’s Christmas tree.
Great video, except the ATSF's "humble beginnings" were not in Topeka. While RR did build its first office/headquarters in Topeka, it was of course founded at its easternmost terminus, Atchison...
It's a trip how back then the east coast already had buildings, electricity, cities and overcrowding.. But the west coast was still the wild west..
You forgot to mention the Song about that was about the ATSF That was sang in the 1940`s
Right. It was from the movie, "The Harvey Girls" and it won the Oscar for best song of that year.
It's Burlington Northern
You didn't even mention grand canyon railway that ATSF built. In 1901 they started taking passengers from Williams, AZ to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I'm interested in the deeper history of this line in particular.
They also built the hotel and restaurant there. ATSF management recognized the potential for tourism and invested in what became an historic building, and a still sought after destination for millions of people every year.
The bulk of the Newkirk to Shawnee route was abandoned long before the BNSF merger. Only parts remained in service through local service until they were cast off to small branch line class companies…
You skipped over an interesting event that occurred when the ATSF and DRG fought a rail war over who would build through the Royal Gorge.
Around 17:30 Burlington Northern*
Not Burlington North as you said.
After 1865 the US government was broke from civil war debt, the best it could do was to guarantee railway bonds to investors, these bonds were authorized after completion of certain track mileage, and the conditions encountered, thus straight and level track was much less than mountain or tunnel track. In both cases it was far less than the actual construction cost. What the railways did get was land, lots of land, but without railway service the land was worthless since there was no way to get to it Some of this land had valuable mineral deposits other land could be sold to farmers and ranchers, some could be sold off to developers in the cities that grew up around the new railway stations. Bonds issued were paid off by the Union Pacific and Western Pacific railways with company funds on a timely basis with no government funding involved. The government takeover of the railways during WWone was a disaster for both the railroads and the government and was not repeated during WWtwo.
Its known more famously as the "Santa Fe Railway" not railroad. Even their private property signage reflected that it was called the AT&SF RY Co
Seeing his mic it dawned on me that "DJ So Cash" would be a solid stage name.
Growing up in the 70s & 80s in the west. The cascade green of the Burlington NORTHERN was a very cherished sight. But I'm sure you were deprived of such a sight, so I'll let you slide this time. 😁
Great video:) I miss the old opening music
Santa Fe and Union Pacific were the premier of railroads; along with maybe the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads.
Around 17:23 you said "the company preserved". I think you meant "persevered", didn't you?
That truck freight took over train freight is mind boggling to me. Sure, truck is king for the last mile - but trains (or ships) should be king for the rest (barring some really weird corner cases).
@7:28 Pretty sure you meant 1300 miles?
You do a great narration for the videos. Since I can see you, and your lips are moving, I'll conclude you are NOT AI. Thank you!
Another fabulous documentary that makes me really be pissed off that I was born too bloody late.
First of all, it was the Southern Pacific which was sold off to Rio Grande Industries and not the Santa Fe after their merger attempt failed. The Santa Fe never went to Las Vegas, NEVADA but it did go to Las Vegas, NEW MEXICO. As others has pointed out, it was the Burlington NorthERN that merged with the Santa Fe and the steam engine was a two-eight-O model not two eighty. You generally make informative videos, but this one had too many errors.
I contributed to two of those abandoned rail listings.
The proposed SP SF merger when equipment in both prototype and models failed, people coined the term for the SPSF as "Shouldn't Paint So Fast". Models in this paint scheme can still be found today. I have a box car in this scheme.
Santa Fe Ry NEVER went to Las Vegas, NV; the photo ispof the depot in Las Vegas, NEW MEXICO, which still serves Amtrak passenger today.
i am from the UK and a UP fan but i also know it is Burlington Northern not Burlington north great presentation but please let some rail fans go over it
That’s for the history lesson as always!
A new video from Ryan and it was about vintage Railroad, a double whammy............
The first TRUE transcontental railroad in the US was Amtrak. It was the first rr that went from the went from the east coast to the west. Before then, freight and passengers had to change trains in places like Chicago or St. Louis.
I rode from Detroit to Pasadena in 1968. Not only did I have to change trains in Chicago, I had to change stations. Penn Central went to Union Station, while the AT&SF went to Dearborn Street Station.
The Stourbridge Lion was the first steam locomotive in the USA.
Im prior right Burlington northern!!! That should b next episode...
WOW NICE VID!!!
It was the Santa Fe Railway not railroad and it was the Burlington Northern not north.
Perfect sponsorship!
Is the SF in ATSF really more obscure now that it is BNSF? The Sante Fe is still alive and well today, through the merger with Burlington Northern.
W video w railroad w sponsor go get the game guys it’s fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Didnt santa fr merge with amtrak?
Ferrocarril De La Santa Fe (Spanish: “Holy Faith Railway”) Is One Of The Railway Companies In The Land Of The Free
I want to thank Wild Hogs for making me aware of the town of Madrid, New Mexico 😂
Pretty sure Rio Grande Industries never owned the ATSF. They did, however, buy the SP and keep the SP name.
Rio Grande/Union Pacific never owned ATSF.
I’m sorry for your sponsor - I play TS2 since 1 1/2 years already…
Level 327 - I take my time…
Same very good game tho
Burlington Northern, not "Burlington North"
Do the Willamette Valley
The comment section is about to be toxic. I'm a transit (mainly "bus") foamer, but train foamers are on a whole 'nother level of critiquing.
Good luck, Ryan 😅🤙🏾
Ahhhh Yes My favorite railroad Burlington North Railroad
Burlington Northern.
@@RickF-m2x No bro did you hear him it's not Burlington Northern anymore it's Burlington North.
"connecting the country seaa to sea"
Chicago doesn't count, the Southern Pacifc, Union Pacific, "the Hill Lines"(Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, and Colorado, Spokane, and Southern) eventually the Burlington Northern existed, and never really went further east than Illinois, and this is followed by the fact that the PRR, NYC (eventually Penn Central, and Conrail), B&O, C&O, and other eastern roads existed at the time. overlooked? Nah. Just look at the amount of Santa Fe related merch & references to the ATSF and you'll see they've left there mark. Alot of ATSF equipment is preserved, or is still in operation (note, I'm excluding the Union Pacific, which does still exist), such equipment range from boxcars uses as covered bridges, privately owned cabooses, locomotives, passenger cars, and other cars. ATSF holds to the likes of the Union Pacific, and a few eastern roads, notably either the PRR, oir NYC in terms of cultural significance, though....in terms of iconic liveries, the ATSF, and Southern Pacific, MAYBE the PRR blow all current & past liveries out of the park. The Warbonnet, Daylight, and Tuscan red are some of the most revered American liveries, and that's leaving out locomotives.
Sir, I do love your videos, however, Burlington northern.
santa fe. And Lionel corporation may not exist if it wasn't for the war. Bonnet paint
FYI - Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC is owned by The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., BNSF Railways parent company. 😀👌
One time I saw two diesel Santa Fe units
Ryan, don't let these Foamers get under your skin.😂 I found it to be a very good video👍👍
Amtrak, dress up 2 p42s as a Atsf warbonnet and make it head west.