| The following information is from
Bill
Peternel's response to a query posted on this website, and is reprinted
with his permission. Thanks, Bill!
The railroad you seek in McKinley
County is the
Atchinson, Topeka,
and the Santa Fe. Also known more commonly as the "Santa Fe", or the
"AT&SF".
I am not familiar with the name Alsbrooks, but can tell you railroad
employment
brought mnay new citizens to Gallup in the period 1881-1925.
The AT&SF is, and aways has
been, Gallup's only
rail link. Gallup
is located on the main line of the Santa Fe and was founded by the
AT&SF
in 1881 as a railroad construction camp. The town is named after David
Gallup, the AT&SF Paymaster of the original construction camp.
"Frisco" refers to the Santa Fe's
use of "the Frisco
Route", a slogan
painted on the side of all their rail cars for many, many decades as an
advertisement of freight and passenger service to the San Francisco, CA
area. The "Frisco Route" was an advertising slogan of the AT&SF.
Gallup is located on the "Frisco
Route" and its
fortunes were directly
tied to the AT&SF for 65 years. Gallup is still a railroading town
and a regularly scheduled stop for all train traffic. The AT&SF has
been ranked in the top five largest railroads in the U.S. since 1870.
The
Santa Fe ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, then up the Pacific coast to
the SF
Bay area.
The AT&SF was acquired in the
mid 1990's by the
Burlington Northern
Railroad and it operates today as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, or
BN&SF.
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