The Railrunner Express

The Santa Fe Depot is still actively functioning as the northern terminus of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line. ... more

by Paul LeSage

Title

The Railrunner Express

Artist

Paul LeSage

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

The Santa Fe Depot is still actively functioning as the northern terminus of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter rail line.

Much of the rail yard was purchased by the City of Santa Fe which later established an enterprise, the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, to oversee the urban renewal of its parcel. The master plan for the transformation preceded the Rail Runner by several years but the arrival of the Rail Runner was nonetheless accommodated. The result of the development, which was mostly complete as of January 2009, is a train-themed district housing community uses such as a park, a youth center, Site Santa Fe, a farmers' market, and commercial activities alongside the working railroads.

The park was designed with input from local residents, and was made possible through funding and support from The Trust for Public Land

The station was originally built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and until 2014 served as the northern terminus, offices, and gift shop of the Santa Fe Southern Railway, a tourist and freight carrying short line railroad. It is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, within an area of urban renewal referred to as the "Railyard". Rail Runner service to the station began on December 17, 2008.

The depot proper was the namesake station of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) starting February 9, 1880 and for most of the twentieth century. The depot is the northern terminus of a former ATSF spur line running from Santa Fe to Lamy, New Mexico, 18 miles to the south. The spur line was built to connect the railroad's namesake destination to its system when the prohibitive grades into Santa Fe were bypassed by the westward expanding railroad's mainline.

An expansive network of track once dominated the area around the Santa Fe Depot, which at its height was served by another station shared by the narrow gauge, D&RG Chili Line trains traveling to the north, and New Mexico Central Railway trains going south. Both of these railroads had been dismantled by 1942.

The ATSF ceased offering passenger train service to Santa Fe with the advent of the Interstate Highway System and replaced it with a motor coach connection operating up to four daily roundtrips to connect with their long distance trains at Lamy. The operation of the motor coaches was later turned over to Amtrak and private bus shuttle companies. As the area's industrial activity declined, much of the track and facilities were sold off in favor of other uses.

Scheduled passenger rail was restored as a tourist operation with the Santa Fe Southern Railway's purchase of the freight-only Santa Fe spur, including the depot, in the early 1990s.

Much of the rail yard was purchased by the City of Santa Fe which later established an enterprise, the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, to oversee the urban renewal of its parcel. The master plan for the transformation preceded the Rail Runner by several years but the arrival of the Rail Runner was nonetheless accommodated. The result of the development, which was mostly complete as of January 2009, is a train-themed district housing community uses such as a park, a youth center, Site Santa Fe, a farmers' market, and commercial activities alongside the working railroads. The park was designed with input from local residents, and was made possible through funding and support from The Trust for Public Land

Uploaded

June 26th, 2018