Nostalgia & History > Santa Fe's Santa Fe -- and Atchison

On a fine day in 1981 I caught these Santa Fe business cars following a very well-kept waycar on a westbound piggyback train at San Bernardino.  They sure looked nice.

John

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ATCHISON is now a track geometry car (it too was once called SANTA FE) and the 38/58 - the car in front of two - has long been sold.

The car labeled Atchison in the second photo was delivered as the Santa Fe in 1949.  When the car labeled Santa Fe in the first photo was delivered in 1957, the 1949-built car was renamed Atchison. 

I was under the impression that Atchison, now BNSF 88, was turned into a Track Geometry Support Car rather than a geometry car, i.e. it doesn't carry the track measuring equipment, but it tags along with the cars that do to provide crew quarters, kitchen facilities, and whatever else "support" entails.