History
The depot proper was the namesake station of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) starting February 9, 1880 and for most of the twentieth century. The depot is the northern terminus of a former ATSF spur line running from Santa Fe to Lamy, New Mexico, 18 miles to the south. The spur line was built to connect the railroad's namesake destination to its system when the prohibitive grades into Santa Fe were bypassed by the westward expanding railroad's mainline. An expansive network of track once dominated the area around the Santa Fe Depot, which at its height was served by another station for narrow gauge trains traveling to the north and south.
The ATSF ceased offering passenger train service to Santa Fe with the advent of the Interstate Highway System and replaced it with a motorcoach connection operating up to four daily roundtrips to connect with their long distance trains at Lamy. The operation of motorcoaches was later turned over to Amtrak and private bus shuttle companies. As the area's industrial activity declined, much of the track and facilities were sold off in favor of other uses.
Scheduled passenger rail was restored as a tourist operation with the Santa Fe Southern Railway's purchase of the freight-only Santa Fe spur, including the depot, in the early 1990s. Much of the rail yard was purchased by the City of Santa Fe which later established an enterprise, the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation, to oversee the urban renewal of its parcel. The master plan for the transformation preceded the Rail Runner by several years but the arrival of the Rail Runner was nonetheless accommodated. The result of the development, which was mostly complete as of January 2009, is a train themed district housing community uses such as a park, a youth center, Site Santa Fe, a farmers' market, and commercial activities alongside the working railroads. The park was designed with input from local residents, and was made possible through funding and support from The Trust for Public Land.
Read more about this topic: Santa Fe Depot (Rail Runner Station)
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