MAP & SLOGAN REFRIGERATOR CARSBeginning in 1940, the Santa Fe Railroad initiated a new series of promotional decoration on their fleet of steel-sided refrigerator cars. One of five ATSF passenger line slogans – Grand Canyon Line, Scout, El Capitan, Super Chief, and Chief – was featured on a single side of each car. On the opposite side of each reefer, a large Santa Fe system map was boldly applied.
In the first few years, a curved map design was utilized, but it was soon modified to a straight-lined map version that was much easier for railroaders to stencil. Implemented until 1947, the short- lived ATSF slogan series was a common site on Santa Fe freight lines, and rates today as one of the most notable schemes in freight car history.