With its row of E1 locomotives, this silver ticket envelope seemingly predates the other silver Santa Fe envelope presented here a few months ago, which had F units on the front. Neither envelope is dated, but the art deco script used for the words “Streamlined Trains” on this envelope makes it seem older than the more modern type faces used on the previous one.
if I had to guess, I’d say this one dates from the late 1930s to 1940s while the other one dates from the 1950s to 1960s. However, collector Bruce Adams, who owned and scanned this particular envelope for us, notes that it is smaller than most ticket envelopes and thinks it was used for some special purpose at the same time as the larger envelopes.
Click image to download a PDF of this ticket envelope.
Both envelopes list R.T. Anderson as the Santa Fe’s General Passenger Traffic Manager. Raymond Anderson was promoted to that job in 1948 and held it until he passed away–in the harness, as it were, on board a Santa Fe train–in 1962. So it is possible that this envelope was used in the late 1940s and early 1950s while the previous one was used in the late 1950s to early 1960s.
The size difference isn’t apparent from the images shown here, but the previous envelope was 7 inches wide and 3.5 inches high, while the one shown here is 5.5 inches wide and 2.8 inches high. So it’s possible that, as Adams suggests, they were both used at the same time but for different purposes. However, I lean toward the notion that this one is older if only because of the art deco lettering.