Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico
Jack Delano's 1943 photographs capture New Mexico’s vital role in wartime rail transport for AT&SF.

Before the first atomic bomb was completed in 1945 at Los Alamos, New Mexico, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) was operating twenty-four hours a day hauling war materials and troops across the state on its transcontinental line from Los Angeles to Chicago. Maintenance workers for the tracks and locomotives were provided by the diverse population of New Mexico, including Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans. With locomotive repair shops and freight yards in Clovis, Albuquerque, and Gallup, the state was well positioned to service the railroad during World War II. Documenting all this railroad activity in New Mexico for the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) was photographer Jack Delano, a native-born Ukrainian. In 1942, the OWI assigned him to photograph the wartime rail system from Chicago to the West Coast. He traveled the AT&SF line west across the deserts and mountains of New Mexico in March 1943, and his photographs, featured in this book, chronicle the heroic efforts of New Mexico’s populace to keep the railroad running across their state.
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Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico
Jack Delano's 1943 photographs capture New Mexico’s vital role in wartime rail transport for AT&SF.

Before the first atomic bomb was completed in 1945 at Los Alamos, New Mexico, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) was operating twenty-four hours a day hauling war materials and troops across the state on its transcontinental line from Los Angeles to Chicago. Maintenance workers for the tracks and locomotives were provided by the diverse population of New Mexico, including Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans. With locomotive repair shops and freight yards in Clovis, Albuquerque, and Gallup, the state was well positioned to service the railroad during World War II. Documenting all this railroad activity in New Mexico for the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) was photographer Jack Delano, a native-born Ukrainian. In 1942, the OWI assigned him to photograph the wartime rail system from Chicago to the West Coast. He traveled the AT&SF line west across the deserts and mountains of New Mexico in March 1943, and his photographs, featured in this book, chronicle the heroic efforts of New Mexico’s populace to keep the railroad running across their state.
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Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico

Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico

by Mike Butler
Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico

Tracking World War II Railroad Operations Across New Mexico

by Mike Butler

Paperback

$25.99 
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Overview

Jack Delano's 1943 photographs capture New Mexico’s vital role in wartime rail transport for AT&SF.

Before the first atomic bomb was completed in 1945 at Los Alamos, New Mexico, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) was operating twenty-four hours a day hauling war materials and troops across the state on its transcontinental line from Los Angeles to Chicago. Maintenance workers for the tracks and locomotives were provided by the diverse population of New Mexico, including Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans. With locomotive repair shops and freight yards in Clovis, Albuquerque, and Gallup, the state was well positioned to service the railroad during World War II. Documenting all this railroad activity in New Mexico for the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) was photographer Jack Delano, a native-born Ukrainian. In 1942, the OWI assigned him to photograph the wartime rail system from Chicago to the West Coast. He traveled the AT&SF line west across the deserts and mountains of New Mexico in March 1943, and his photographs, featured in this book, chronicle the heroic efforts of New Mexico’s populace to keep the railroad running across their state.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781634995115
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Publication date: 05/31/2025
Pages: 112
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Since retiring as an administrative manager in the Denver Parks & Recreation Department, Mike Butler has been traveling and researching local histories in Colorado and New Mexico. He has written five books for Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series, including Around the Spanish Peaks; Great Sand Dunes National Park; Southern Colorado: O.T. Davis Collection; Littleton; and High Road to Taos. He has also written four books for Fonthill Media, including Tracking The Chili Line Railroad To Santa Fe; Tracking The Narrow Gauge From Chama to Durango; Tracking Rocky Mountain Railroad Club Excursions 1987–1990; and Getting Around in Glacier National Park.
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