Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
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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.
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Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
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Dates of operation | 1859ā1996; 28 years ago (1996) |
Successor | Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (later BNSF Railway) |
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]