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Santa Fe Steam Locomotive Train Trip to New Mexico, Arizona & California 65005 (1937)

1937 · Short film · 15 min

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Synopsis

This early Kodachrome, silent 16mm home movie dates to 1937. It shows a trip West made by an American tourist by Santa Fe passenger train. These type of trips were widely promoted by the railroad and serviced by Fred Harvey hotels. At 1:00 the Castaneda Hotel in Las Vegas, where Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders once held a reunion, is shown. The Castaneda was one of the so-called Railroad Hotels. At 1:08 the train station and Western Union office are visible, followed by shots out the train window including the Glorieta station. At 1:53 a very distinctive building is shown, possibly another train station (perhaps you can ID it?), and at 2:11 the Lamy station is shown. At 2:47 kids pose by the train and at 2:54 a mission style church is shown. At 3:12 a pueblo, possibly at Acoma, is shown. At 3:42 a Santa Fe Railroad bus is shown by the tracks as a train approaches. At 4:30 a locomotive approaches the camera straight on. Hard to make out the number but it does end in 69, and it might be the 369 a 2-8-0 steam engine in service until the 1950s. At 4:41 the Grand Canyon is seen. At 6:00 there is a visit to the Hermit's Rest viewing area and at 7:00 the Watchtower is shown. At 7:11 Native Americans, most likely from the Navajo Nation, perform for the tourists. Marion Davie's home is visible at 7:34 followed by sweeping shots of Santa Monica and the bluffs. Downtown L.A. is seen at 8:30. At 8:50 a newspaper boy sells papers with the headline "L.A. Bound Flyers Lost", too bad…

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Details

Running time
15 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

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