According to the records, no demonstration trains of any kind ran over Santa Fe tracks from 1932 to 1936 in Kansas. Considering the bleak economic picture facing the railroad, this is not surprising. The last of such trains to be run by the Santa Fe in Kansas, the "Better Farm Homes Special" in 1937 was but a small part of Bledsoe's anti-depression efforts. That the 1937 train ran at all reflected the temporary upswing in revenues at this point in the decade, even though profits continued to decline. An advertising campaign aimed at increasing freight traffic, and a good harvest combined to improve revenues. A "Better Farm Homes Special" made good sense in 1937, as farmers for the first time in several years experienced enough improvement in income to consider making capital improvements to their farms and homes.
With the recession of 1938, however, the 1937 demonstration train [attendance 65,000] closed out the era of such trains. No mention of further trains in Kansas is to be found in the records. But the "Better Farm Homes Special" was a glorious finish to this era. On board were twelve people from KSAC, four Santa Fe personnel, a train crew of five, a daily newspaper reporter, a representative of the U.S. government, and five visitors - twenty-eight in all. In addition to the engine and bumper coach for the train crew, their were three exhibit coaches, one lecture car, a coach for the 4-H contest for boys and girls, a Pullman sleeper, a dining car, and an office car for the women speakers.
In one coach were exhibits dealing with farmhouse plans, designs, construction ideas, and exterior treatment suggestions. A second exhibit car dealt with farmhouse interior decoration, furnishings and furniture, while a third coach displayed mechanical equipment for farmhouses, including plumbing, water-supply, and electrical equipment, as well as power units. An additional half-car carried an operating exhibit of farm lighting and power equipment.
In February of 1937, Mark Shaw, secretary of the Greater Nebraska Club, inquired if the train's equipment could be leased and operated over the Burlington-Rock Island or Union Pacific lines. Disappointed to learn it was not available, he responded that he was "sorry indeed that when the Santa Fe built their line into Superior, Nebraska, they did not come over into Omaha. As a matter of fact, what Nebraska needs is more railways with the enterprise, grit, and high sense of duty evidenced by your railroad, not only in the promotion of this `Better Farm Homes' train matter, but the other fine things the Santa Fe is continually doing for all its territory."(71) Jarrell did advise Shaw on how Nebraska could do something similar in cooperation with its own state agricultural college. In early May, the many years of running demonstration trains came full circle for the Santa Fe when Jarrell received a request for information on running demonstration trains from the agricultural agent for the New York Central Lines!
President Farrell of the Kansas College of Agriculture and Applied Science (as it was then known) hoped he and Houghton could be together on the train for a day, inasmuch as they had yet to meet personally. A meeting between these two men who had played such key roles in this cooperative venture between the college and the railroad would have been an appropriate ending to this era, but Houghton was unable to make it. His presence was required at the inauguation of the new California light-weight diesel-powered train.(72) The era of the steam engine was also coming to an end.
Arthur Large of the Rock Island summed up the Santa Fe's demonstration train efforts best in his letter of June 4, 1937, to Jarrel:
I consider that your Train has been very beneficial to all of the railroad agricultural agents. I think it is very important that we retain the Agricultural Train Campaign as really the most effective and efficient method of reaching large numbers, disseminating new and better ideas, and also the same ideas with respect to the railroads. There are few if any railroads in better financial and general shape than the Santa Fe, and that is another reason why I am glad that you led off with this agricultural train for the reason that it has generally been considered that those railroads in the hands of receivers should defer such activities until they have been reorganized.(73)
A fitting epitaph to the era of the demonstration train. The fast-moving, through trains had arrived with the diesel; the demonstration train was now a relic of the past. But it had served the farmer and the railroad well.
This article was originally published in Volume 10 Spring 1987 Number 1 Kansas History. It is republished here with the permission of Constance Libbey Menninger and the Kansas State Historical Society. You may visit the Kansas State Historical Society for more information about Kansas History Transcribed in altered form for the web by Russell Crump.
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