Santa Fe Southern Railway

This article is about the contemporary short line railroad. For the railroad of the same name from the 1880s, see Chili Line.
Santa Fe Southern Railway

Santa Fe Depot, with a Rail Runner Express train (right), alongside a diesel locomotive and ex-Santa Fe Pleasure Dome operated by the SFSR
Reporting mark SFSR
Locale Santa Fe County, New Mexico, USA
Dates of operation 1992–present
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Santa Fe Southern
Legend
 0.0 Santa Fe Depot
 Rail Runner to Albuquerque
 Interstate 25
 Ave. Vista Grande
 Ave. Eldorado
 Spur Ranch Rd.
 US Route 285
 County Road 33
 18.0 Junction, BNSF/NMDOT
 18.1 Lamy (Amtrak station)
 18.3 End of line/Private Track

The Santa Fe Southern Railway (reporting mark SFSR) is a short line railroad in New Mexico, United States. It carries both passengers and freight between Lamy and Santa Fe, a distance of 18.1 miles (29.1 km).[1] It is a tourist railroad that also carries freight: the passenger cars are classical and most passengers are tourists.[1]

It began operations in 1992, after the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (now part of Burlington Northern Santa Fe) ended operations on the line and a group of local businesspeople purchased the line, initially operating freight service, but subsequently adding passenger trains.[1] Currently, the railroad operates mixed trains, hauling freight, which consists largely of building supplies, and passengers, which run at least twice a week, depending on the season.[1][2] It also operates occasional charter and special trains.[1]

The railroad's business fluctuates greatly; in 2004, it hauled 401 carloads of freight, and in 2007 carried 25,907 passengers, but in 2009 these counts decreased to 25 and 12,208, both record lows.[1]

On October 8, 2010, the railroad was purchased by STI-Global, Ltd., an Australian-based company. STI-Global said that the purchase would allow it to test the safety systems the company produces.[3]

On May 20, 2011, the railroad was evicted from its headquarters at the depot in Santa Fe to make way for a new visitors' center planned to serve New Mexico Rail Runner passengers.[4]

On August 12, 2012, the railroad was featured in the AMC TV series Breaking Bad season 5 episode "Dead Freight", in which one of the railroad's locomotives was delayed at a highway crossing in order to facilitate theft of 1,000 gallons of the industrial chemical methylamine from a tank car near the end of the train. In the credits, special thanks were given to the railroad for making the episode possible.

The railroad operates several coaches formerly owned by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, as well as an ex-Santa Fe Pleasure Dome, a flatcar, and a caboose. Motive power consists of two EMD GP7s, one rebuilt to GP16 specifications.[1]

An article in the Santa Fe New Mexican dated May 23, 2013 stated, "Company officials said last October that they were shutting down for the season as usual. But this week, the board chairman said he had laid off all 11 or 12 full-time staffers, as well as a similar number of seasonal employees, at that time, and he doesn’t expect to operate at all this year." [5]

On April 24, 2014, the Las Vegas Railway Express (LVRE) announced that it had reached an agreement with the Santa Fe Southern to jointly operate excursion trains that summer.[6] LVRE would provide the capital to restore the line to operating condition, while Santa Fe Southern would operate the trains.[6] On September 26, LVRE informed the Santa Fe Southern that they would be terminating the operation, effective on the 29th.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lustig, David (July 2010). "Santa Fe Southern". Trains Magazine (Kalmbach Publishing).
  2. ↑ "Lamy Freight Run". Santa Fe Southern Railway. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  3. ↑ "Santa Fe Southern purchased by Australian high-tech company". Trains Magazine. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  4. ↑ "Santa Fe boots short line from depot". Trains Magazine. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  5. ↑
  6. 1 2 "X Train to operate Santa Fe Southern excursion trains". 24 April 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Santa Fe Southern Railway ceases passenger service". Albuquerque Business First. 30 September 2014. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.

External links

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