A helper engine was taken on at Chillicothe for added power to tackle an eight mile grade on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Chillicothe, Illinois and Fort Madison, Iowa. Here the helper has been cut off at the crest and the train will proceed on unassisted. The #3286 is listed as a Baldwin built 2-8-2 “Mikado” manufactured in 1920.

Photograph by Jack Delano, March of 1943.

We aren’t too far out of Chicago as the westbound Santa Fe freight on which we’re riding passes through the tiny community of Ancona, Illinois. This depot is long gone today, though the tracks are still there (and not much else).

Spring time might be just around the corner, as the snow appears to be melting away. Jack Delano recorded this scene in March of 1943.

Seen through the window of the cupola, Jack Delano photographed an eastbound train on an adjacent track as his train was passing by. We’re riding the Santa Fe on the line running between Chicago and Chillicothe, Illinois on a snowy day in March of 1943.

Jack Delano’s freight train has pulled into a siding somewhere in the vicinity of McCook, Illinois, this being on the Santa Fe’s line running between Chicago and Chillicothe. He captured this image of an eastbound passenger train flying by, with the heavyweight cars lifting the snow on this frigid day in March of 1943. Upon reaching San Bernardino, California, the end of his journey, he will see railroaders in short sleeve shirts.

Back in April of 2019 I posted a black and white image of these railroaders as they were comparing their time pieces. I later discovered this color version of that photograph taken a few seconds later. The paragraph below is taken from that original posting and sums up the scene.

In March of 1943, during his visit to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, Jack Delano photographed conductor George E. Burton and engineer J.W. Edwards comparing time before pulling out of Corwith Yard in Chicago for their run to Chillicothe, Illinois. Accurate time is vital for train operations, and the conductor will synchronize his watch with an “official” clock prior to a run. The crew members will verify that their watches are matching his watch as well.

A dispatcher at work in the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad offices at Marceline, Missouri. The wall calendar tells us that this is March of 1943. The Standard clock says that it’s 11:13:25 am, with a message below advising that the clock is running 4 seconds fast. That’s an interesting telephone system that the dispatcher is using. And note the various shades and light reflectors he has rigged up.

There is another dispatcher’s desk mirrored to this one at the pipe columns.

Photograph by Jack Delano

It was a clear day in March of 1943 when Jack Delano’s train was stopped in Vaughn, New Mexico. While there he spotted this eastbound freight train about to depart. Locomotive #5006 was a 2-10-4 “Texas” type beast built by Baldwin in 1938. She was retired in 1959.

The cabooses seen here are both equipped with the “wig-wag” targets that we’ve seen before in this post, along with their explanation. I think the targets show up much better in this photograph.

Conductor E.K. Hill is seen reading his train orders as his train waits in a siding at Black, Texas. This small, but interesting depot is on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad located between Amarillo, Texas and Clovis, New Mexico.

A bit later Mr. Delano recorded this portrait of Conductor Hill. This gentleman hails from Amarillo, Texas.

Both photographs by Jack Delano, March of 1943.

Jack Delano is on the move again, and his train is passing by the depot in Hereford, Texas. The Santa Fe had quite a few designs for their train stations, some of masonry construction and others of wood. But they all seemed to have certain elements that made them distinctly Santa Fe. Here I particularly like the sloped sides of the bottom half of the structure’s brick walls, an architectural feature I’ve seen on several Illinois Central depots (Hammond, Louisiana and Brookhaven, Mississippi come to mind).

Since this is March of 1943, the vine growing on the bay window has gone dormant, likely a good thing as it appears to cover the station name. The building section to the right of the main structure is the Railway Express Agency’s facility. The train order signal displays the need for crews in each direction to pick up orders for their trains.

We’re in Amarillo, Texas in March of 1943, and Jack Delano has taken a bit of time to explore the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad yard there. He often sought out the yardmaster in the various yards he explored during his time photographing the railroads. And this visit was no exception, with Mr. Delano recording the Amarillo yardmaster at work.

Sitting behind the typically cluttered desk of a yardmaster, he is busy recording information in a ledger while talking on his candlestick scissor arm telephone. Also typical of a yardmaster’s office, he is surrounded by arch-boards filled with various forms, and with notices and pamphlets tacked on the walls.

I thought I’d fill in a few “blanks” in Jack Delano’s journey out west back in March of 1943. There were several Santa Fe depots that Mr. Delano photographed as he was passing by, one of them being a rather large facility in Pampa, Texas.

Pampa must have been a bustling place at the time judging from the number of businesses along the tracks. There looks to be a fair sized express building connected to the depot proper.

Details abound here: I like the brick platforms and I think the platform lights are interesting as well. Note the train order signal out between the double main lines. The horizontal position of the semaphore blades indicates that trains headed both ways need to pick up train orders.