[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Right you are, I do not have any prize
> for you, however. The AT&SF railroad _originally_ ran between
> Atichson, Kansas, through Topeka, Kansas and southwestward on to Santa
> Fe, New Mexico. Then, as Chicago became the railroad capitol of
> America (start of 20th century) the AT&SF continued pushing eastward,
> making its new terminus at Dearborn Station in Chicago, and relocating
> its headquarters in the 'Santa Fe Building' at Jackson Blvd. and
> Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. I hear your question now: ...
Many of the headquarters functions remained in Topeka.
The Ottawa cut-off took Topeka off the main line. Even before that, the line from Atchison to Topeka was of much reduced importance, and the railroad had been extended to Kansas City. The Santa Fe, originally a Kansas promotion, did not terminate in Santa Fe and but built on to Albuquerque and Los Angeles. Santa Fe was served by a branch line.
The reason the Santa Fe's line between Kansas City and Chicago is the lowest-mileage route and the most nearly direct is because it was built as a line to connect Kansas City and the rest of the system with Chicago, not especially to serve local points between.
Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com