Santa Fe RailRoad "Pay Day" - 1950's American Trains

A serious while often humorous look at what happens if railroad employees don't do their job correctly. Follow the adventures of a new TV as it suffers all sorts of bad treatment on its journey from manufacturer to the new owner via the Santa Fe Railroad. There's all sorts of staged mishaps to see - from derailments, heavy shunting, hotboxes and various other problems to ensure the new Motorola Television doesn't arrive in one piece!

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchison...
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859. Although the railway was named in part for the capital of New Mexico, its main line never reached there as the terrain made it too difficult to lay the necessary tracks (Santa Fe was ultimately served by a branch line from Lamy, New Mexico). The Santa Fe's first tracks reached the Kansas/Colorado state line in 1873, and connected to Pueblo, Colorado in 1876. In order to help fuel the railroad's profitability, the Santa Fe set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that the railroad was awarded by Congress; these new farms would create a demand for transportation (both freight and passenger service) that was offered by the Santa Fe.

Ever the innovator, Santa Fe was one of the pioneers in intermodal freight service, an enterprise that (at one time or another) included a tugboat fleet and an airline: the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway. A bus line allowed the company to extend passenger transportation service to areas not accessible by rail, and ferry boats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.

• Category

  Education

[OldsVistaCruiser]

- I used to work for the W. Atlee Burpee Co. in the customer service department for their subsidiary, The Cook's Garden. I got calls from several customers asking the same thing - if UPS used their live plants as a soccer ball, as they arrived completely smashed-up. I'd rather ship by BNSF than by Under Paid Slaves any day of the week.

The reason Santa Fe made this film was for internal training purposes so that their employees didn't screw things up!

[Lowell Wood]

I remember this film. It was a training film all the ATSF Employees had to watch.  Great to see it again.

[TheZeke1974]

And weighed a ton too. Those old TVs were beasts.

[TheZeke1974]

Funny they called a TV a "television set" back then, LOL.

[TheZeke1974]

USPS is ten times worse... I have shipped fragile electronics through USPS only to have them smashed up when the customer gets the package......

[DeserTBoB93535]

Now more than ever. UP isn't really UP anymore, it's even worse...it's the MOP gone wild.

[DeserTBoB93535]

Damage losses were a huge problem into the '50s for the RRs. Then, in 1954, SP developed the Hydra-Cushion underframe, and that cut losses by 90%. The Hydra-Cushion is now standard on all boxcars...well, what few are left. We dont' manufacture anything here anymore, so who needs 'em, right?

[blueticecho]

Ha.. like we use to say there's the right way and the UP way.

[LVC628sRule]

I dunno.........most of the UPS drivers in see around Rochester NY drive like maniacs. Then again FedEx drivers are horrible, too.

[super58173]

Somebody working on this production had fun ramming those cars.

[mike richards]

I work for ups its a shame most of the tvs come out of our hub broken!

[Sean Carr]

It's even more important for train crews from all Class 1 railroads like BNSF to perform their jobs to the letter so that the 80" LED projection TV can get to its final destination safely and on time. It's the exact same thing for the volatile chemicals in tank cars. Or the fertilizer, grain and soda ash in hopper cars. Or the ethanol. Or the express shipment from UPS or FedEx. It's the same importance whatever the commodity the railroad ships.