The Santa Fe Southern Railway is a

short line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In addition to carrying freight on occasion, it also operates as a tourist railroad called Sky Railway that carries passengers between Lamy and Santa Fe: a distance of . The Santa Fe Rail Trail, a multi-use trail, parallels its route.

History

Beginnings and the expansion of tourist operations

The Santa Fe Southern began operations in 1992, after the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

ended operations on its Lamy to Santa Fe branch line and a group of local businesspeople purchased the track to continue freight service in the area. Passenger service was added later on. On October 8, 2010, the railroad was purchased by STI-Global, Ltd., an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n-based company. STI-Global said that the purchase would allow it to test the safety systems the company produces. 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.

Financial troubles and attempted recovery

The railroad's business fluctuated 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. Towards the end of its existence, the railroad changed from separate freight and passenger operations to mixed trains (which carry both freight and passengers) at least twice a week, depending on the season. The railroad also offered charter and special trains. After the close of the 2012 operating season, things took a turn for the worse. On May 23, 2013, the Santa Fe Southern board chairman announced that he had laid-off all of the railroad's full-time staffers and many seasonal employees. The railroad did not operate any trains during the year 2013. 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. LVRE would provide the capital to restore the line to operating condition, while Santa Fe Southern would operate the trains.

End of regularly scheduled passenger excursion trains

On September 26, 2014, despite a reportedly-successful first summer, LVRE informed the Santa Fe Southern that it would be terminating the operation, effective on the 29th. Those who had purchased tickets for future excursion trains were informed that their trains were cancelled, and received refunds. Remaining freight operations were also suspended. Santa Fe Southern officials commented that they were unsure when the railroad would resume operations, and at the time the railroad was still lacking regularly-scheduled passenger excursions, although it was still running private charter events (weddings, parties, corporate events, etc.), private varnishes, and the occasional movie or TV film shoot.

Revival as Sky Railway

In 2019, the railway came under new ownership, including

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...

and entertainment and restaurant business owner Bill Banowsky. It resumed excursion operations under the brand Sky Railway in December 2021.

Rolling stock

The railroad operates several coaches formerly owned by the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, as well as a

flatcar A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on trucks (US) or bogies (UK) at each end. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry extra heavy or extra large loads are mounted ...

and a caboose. Motive power consists of one

EMD GP7 The EMD GP7 is a four-axle (AAR wheel arrangement#B-B, B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973) pp. 53 The GP7 was ...

and one EMD GP16, the latter being a rebuild from a GP7.

In popular culture

The railroad was featured in the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

TV series ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

'' season 5 episode "Dead Freight", first aired on August 12, 2012, in which a train was delayed at a highway crossing in order to facilitate the theft of 1,000 gallons of the industrial chemical methylamine from a tank car near the end of the train. The locomotive featured was SFSR 07, a GP7u. In the credits, special thanks were given to the railroad for making the episode possible.

References

External links

Sky Railway Official website
a railfan site, with photos
Santa Fe Rail Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Fe Southern Railway Rails with trails New Mexico railroads Heritage railroads in New Mexico Transportation in Santa Fe County, New Mexico Spin-offs of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Transportation in New Mexico Tourist attractions in Santa Fe County, New Mexico