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Stock Cars of the Santa Fe Railway compiled by Ellington Berry & MArtens Spiral
Stock Cars of the Santa Fe Railway compiled by Frank M Ellington, John Berry & Loren Martens
Spiral Bound
132 pages
Copyright 1981
CONTENTS
iAcknowledgements.
iiTable of contents.
i i i-viIntroduction
1.Graph, stock car totals by year, 1883-1974.
2 - 11. Roster and considerations in the use thereof.
12 -53. Photo album, car classes.
54 -56. The Bx -3, Bx -6 story.
56 -57. The Fe -P, Fe -T, Fe -T2 story .
58-59. Conclusion, photo album.
60. Introduction to scale drawings.
61. Drawings, A&P 20050-20748 (1888).
62. Drawings, 21500-22148 (1888).
63. Drawings, lettered: "S. Kraus Livestock Merchant, Kansas City Stockyard" (1898).
64. Drawings, 60101-60224 ex-SFP 20000-20137, ex-A&P 1156-1554 (1890).
65. Drawings, 51971-52407 (1896).
66. Drawings, rebuild of "Palace" type (1896).
67. Lettering, cars page 66 (1896).
68. Method of reinforcing underframes (1911).
69. Drawings, Sk - I, only car this class (1903).
70. Drawings, roof doors Stock & Coke cars (1907).
71. Photo, roof showing doors (1908).
72. Drawings, safety appliances, early Sk - L (1907) .
73. Drawings, lettering and erecting details Sk - L (1943).
74. Drawings, double deck Sk -M (1915).
75. Drawings, Stock & Coke cars Sk -N (1916).
76. Drawings, roof doors Stock & Coke cars Sk -K (1912).
77-78. Drawings, double deck cars Sk-O (1928).
79. Drawings, Stock & Coke cars Sk-P (1924).
80. Drawings, roof doors Stock & Coke cars (1911).
81. Drawings, Sk -U (from Santa Fe planbook).
82. Drawings, K.C.M. & O. 10001-10100 (1926).
83. Drawings, K.C.M. & O. 10102-10400 (1925).
84. Drawings, K.C.M. & O. 10600-10649 (1926).
85. Drawings, double deck Sk - Z (drawing by Loren Martens).
86. Drawings, Fe -P (1927).
87. Drawings, Sk-2; Sk-3 (1942).
88. Drawings, slat reclaimation (1946).
89-91. Drawings, ends, brake rigging Sk-3 (1947).
92. Drawings, class 540 trucks used on Sk - L.
93. Drawings, class 545 trucks used on Sk -M.
94. Drawings, class 547 trucks used on Sk - N.
95. Drawings, Horse Express, 1990 class.
96-116. Introduction, photos, drawings stock yards. 118-132. Location and scope of facilities in stock yards, System, as of July 1, 1961.
Rear cover (inside) Sk - class designation style. Rear cover (outside) "Santa Fe" lettering style.
INTRODUCTION
This volume is to record a part of the existence and the passing of a Santa Fe Railway industry that itself was merely a sort of way station along the never ending journey of man to move products to market;
in the case considered here, that product is livestock. Previous to railway movement, cattle producers had relied upon cattle drives of varying degrees of complexity, depending upon whether the cattle were being merely moved to a fattening range periodically, or whether the cattle were actually driven, perhaps several hundred miles, to some steamboat landing at rivers edge, or a processing
plant, perhaps in eastern Kansas. Rail shipment originated from points progressively advancing further each year into cattle shipping territory as the railroads sought the business for themselves. This rail transport eventually spelled "the end" to the necessity for the stockman's lengthy cattle drives.
A further factor for some consideration, perhaps, would be the impact or impetus toward the alternate or rail movement necessitated by the development of "closed range", which manifested itself with the ranchers fencing their properties with the newly-developed barbed wire . That closing of the range areas necessitated development of new methods for getting range cattle to market or to finishing areas. However, we are to concern ourselves here only with the role of the railway in transportation of livestock, recognizing, also,
but with merely a nod, the present state of affairs. We now have witnessed the complete disappearance of an entire industry with all of its many adjuncts, from the intermediate cattle feeding and/or collecting points and the appurtenances connected thereto, through the type of car actually employed in stock movements. Gigantic trucks and interstate highway developments have forced railroads to bow to the inevitable, leaving precious few traces of the old rail industry. At this writing, even the physical presence of the cattle car is an item to be remarked, inasmuch as total numbers of such equipment are now quite small, the cars living out their few remaining serviceable years as hacks for the railroads, carrying whatever be required of them, seldom being seen away from the "home" road track, and usually to be observed at some store department track along the system.
Early cattle drives were monumental operations due to the great distances to be covered, many times requiring weeks or even months to reach completion. The drives were additionally filled with dangers for the participating humans as well as the animals from the elements and/or human predators--one record contained in a newspaper editorial of the 1880's we examined mentioned the complete cessation of all cattle movements through large areas of New Mexico due to
the great likelihood of loss of cattle and even human life to cattle rustlers. This discontinuance to be in effect until "--authorities manifest more interest in supporting law and order--." The natural development from that on-foot drive was to loading stock into special railroad cars which had been assembled at stock gathering pens erected along the particular rai lroad serving a certain area, the cattle then being moved by this rail transportation to market with relative ease, certainly with far less trouble for the ranchers. The
following excerpt from a report, "EARLY DAYS ON THE SANTA FE", by Walter Justin Sherman, consulting engineer from Toledo, Ohio, is graphic indication of the scope of the business early on: "In the early days much of the Texas Santa Fe revenue came from the transportation
of cattle from the breeding grounds of North Texas and the Indian Territory where, during the slow driving towards the slaughter houses of Kansas City these cattle were fattened for market. The magnitude of this traffic was astounding. If my memory serves me right, more that 100, 000 head were moved over this route each year by Santa Fe" . To attempt to meet the ranchers search for economy of movement of
his stock, rates for shipment were seemingly in a never-ending state of "re-adjustment". Many allusions to this, even to cut-throat rate shaving by competing rail lines are at hand, as each rai lroad aggressively sought a larger percentage of the business for itself . One
of the best to i I lustrate this was found in the RAILROAD GAZETTE, dated November 9, 1872, page 486, which reported as follows: "Three hhousand carloads of cattle have been carried by this road (A.T.& S.F., ed.) from Wichita to the Missouri river this season. Great efforts have been made to divert the cattle trade from the Kansas Pacific at Abilene to Wichita, (both points in Kansas, ed.)which
have been partially successful. The freight charged was $30 per car load from Wichita to the Missouri River. From Wichita to Atchison, (Kansas, ed. ), the distance is 213 miles." Additionally, Railroad Gazette, August 30, 1902, page 635 stated: "Resulting, it is claimed, from the recent reduction in the cattle rate from the Missouri River and trans-Missouri territory to Chicago, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway system is now doing the largest cattle business
in the history of the road. During one night lately, 440 cars were carried into Kansas City over this road from Missouri, a total of about 500 cars were handled by the Eastern Division of the road
in ten hours." Unfortunately for the railroads, trucks seem to have proven themselves superior in the eyes of the shippers of stock, and all the blandishments and inducements of railroads to the potential trade to continue utilizing "the cars" were to fail entirely to hold sufficient stock hauling business to maintain that rail industry. "Shrinkage" being a very serious factor in the movement of stock over any appreciable distance, with the attendant potential loss
of total value of that product, any method to shorten the "in transit" time is examined and experimented with by stock shippers in great earnestness. Stock are now gathered at the ranch assembly point, loaded into trucks, and then carried in uninterrupted movement directly to the point of ultimate destination. This truck transportation, coupled with the vastly improved road networks across the country of today eventually orchestrated the current truck shipment desirability from the ranchers viewpoint.
While we bestow a nod of recognition in the direction of predecessor and successor stock-shipping methods, this volume will primarily be an attempt to record the vehicles and facilities in the passing of rail transport, which has now succeeded in seeing the words "STOCK CAR" totally obliterated from the IN-USE records of Santa Fe. (Examination of various" Live-Lists", those periodically released compilations of equipment of the road indicating the number totals of a particular type of equipment on the active roster, discloses a rather sizeable constant car total devoted to stock movement for years on the Santa Fe.) Beginning with the oldest "Live-List" we could find, dated January 1883, which carried 801 stock cars with Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe as parent, stock car operation grew and then was reduced in total till, with the appearance of the December 1974 "Live-List" the "Stock Cars" grouping was omitted from the form. The reader is invited to consult page 1 for a graphic illustration of the bulk of Santa Fe stock hauling days. This is not to state categorically all Santa Fe stock cars were completely gone from the face of the earth by the December 1974 date.
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