Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

Santa Fe system (shown in blue) at the time of the BNSF merger
ATSF 5051, an EMD SD40-2, leads a train through Marceline, Missouri, in August 1983.
Overview
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois Kansas City, Missouri Los Angeles, California
Reporting mark	ATSF
Locale	List Arizona California Colorado Illinois Iowa Kansas Louisiana Missouri Nebraska New Mexico Oklahoma Texas
Founder	Cyrus K. Holliday
Dates of operation	1859–1996
Successor	BNSF Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	13,115 miles (21,107 km)

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States.^[1]

The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at various times, it operated an airline, the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway, and the fleet of Santa Fe Railroad Tugboats.^[2] Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The AT&SF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film The Harvey Girls (1946).

The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.