Between 1892 and about 1960, the Santa Fe Railway acquired more than 600 paintings, mostly of the Grand Canyon and Southwest Indians, by scores of fine artists. Beginning in 1907, the railway used many of these paintings on its annual … Continue reading
Category Archives: Santa Fe
In lieu of canceling train service (which generally required either federal or state approval), various ways that railroads attempted to save money in the face of declining ridership included: 1. Simplifying exterior paint schemes; 2. Simplifying dining car menus; 3. … Continue reading
In addition to his Travel by Train poster, Oscar Bryn did a number of posters and paintings for the Santa Fe Railway. The most famous is his Arizona poster, which looks as if it could have been one of the … Continue reading
Hernando Gonzallo Villa was another in the stable of artists nurtured by the Santa Fe Railway in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in 1881 in Los Angeles to parents who had moved there when California was still … Continue reading
Though born in England in 1881, Sam Hyde Harris was an artist for the Southwest: though he did not move to the United States until he was 15, he was already drawing scenes of what he imagined the West looked … Continue reading
This baggage claim tag seems to be for excess or oversize luggage that passengers asked to have delivered directly to their final destinations such as their hotel or home. The tag notes that “Delivery charges will be collected by the … Continue reading
Here’s a Santa Fe baggage claim tag for “local and interline” service. As with an airline baggage tag, this one specifies each train and the “junctions” where the baggage would be transferred to one train or another. Modern airline tags, … Continue reading
The Santa Fe was unusual if not unique in that–at least until 1963–it didn’t operate its own dining cars. Instead, it contracted them out to Fred Harvey, who also operated restaurants in many Santa Fe train stations and hotels in … Continue reading
There is an intriguing pattern in the seven trains introduced in 1956. Four were outright failures, being pulled from service after less than two years and, at best, run as lowly commuter trains. One, the Santa Fe hi-level, was a … Continue reading
In this age of political correctness, when colleges aren’t allowed to use Native American terms for team names, it is amazing to think that the Santa Fe Railroad based its train fleet on the “chief” name and the war bonnet … Continue reading