N Scale - Rapido Trains - 561005A - Reefer, 50 Foot, RR-56 Mechanical - Santa Fe

Road Name History: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that (at one time or another) included a tugboat fleet and an airline (the short-lived Santa Fe Skyway). Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, and ferryboats on the San Francisco Bay allowed travelers to complete their westward journeys to the Pacific Ocean. The ATSF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercer's "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written for the film, The Harvey Girls (1946).

The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31, 1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Paint Scheme: The Santa Fe El Capitan offered coach travel between Chicago and Los Angeles using hi-level coaches along with a diner and lounge, its double decker hi-level cars providing a greater passenger capacity than traditional single-level trains. The El Capitan was revolutionary in that it offered excellent service and a train schedule that matched the speed of first class sleeper trains such as the "Super Chief" while remaining affordable to the every-day passenger. In fact, in January 1958 the "El Capitan" and "Super Chief" trains were consolidated to run together, though in peak traffic times such as Christmas or the summer months the two would still keep separate train schedules to accommodate the increased ridership.

Based off of the C&NW Bi-Level commuter cars, the El Capitan Hi-Level cars were the first of their kind to be used in long distance service, pioneering the concept of affordable, reliable service and providing the basis for today's modern Amtrak fleets (the Amtrak Superliners were, in fact, built off the design of the original Santa Fe Hi-Level coaches and many Santa Fe cars ran alongside Superliners in the early days of Amtrak).

In the late 50's, the Santa Fe would run the Super Chief and El Capitan as a combined train, with consists that could vary but were often upwards of 18-20 cars. Kato USA has put together a small video presentation featuring this combined consist, as accurately reproduced using cars from both of the classic name train series sets and their supporting add-on packs of cars. Click the image to the left or HERE to visit Kato USA's youtube page and see this train in motion!

Brand/Importer Information: Rapido Trains Inc. is a high-end manufacturer of model trains and accessories in HO, OO and N (North American 1:160 and British 1:148) scales. The firm's mission is to recreate the entire rail travel experience, from fully-detailed interiors and under-frames on models to fully-wired telephone poles for model railroads.

The name RAPIDO was introduced by Canadian National in 1965 to headline the railway's high-speed intercity passenger services. Until the mid-1980s, RAPIDO stood for fast schedules, frequent trains, and superb service.

Today, Rapido Trains continues the RAPIDO concept with state-of-the-art models and attention to fine detail. This company is not related to the venerable (and now defunct) German manufacturer Arnold Rapido, nor the present-day Arnold (which is owned by the United Kingdom's Hornby), Canadian based Rapido Trains was founded in 2003.