PeriscopeFilm
Published 24 May 2020

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Santa Fe presents, Loaded for War. This WWII era color film presents the power of the Santa Fe railroad. While speaking of the mighty effort the trains and its myriad workers achieved during wartime, the footage is all modern and in color. The film does a great job of showing how integral our railroad system has been to the growth of these United States. “With grateful appreciation to the Office of Defense Transportation, the Army, Navy, Maritime Commission, and the shipping and traveling public, for the cooperation and genuine understanding which has made the service record here presented possible …” The film opens with a steam locomotive bearing down on the camera 1:03. The narrator speaks as the train crosses a trestle 1:10. News headlines of December 7, 1941 11:25. Steam and diesel locomotives are transformed into machines of war 1:40. Smoke fills a train yard as trains enter and are washed 2:08. A train signal shows a green light 2:25. Workers are seen in the factory 2:36. Civilians exit trains volunteering for service 2:45. A telegram is shown stating that the trainmen should, “move all available equipment to military stations without delay” 2:54. Four locomotives are shown 3:03. Crews are assigned and men work double shifts 3:45. Rail equipment is loaded by military personnel, ready to move 4:13. Flatcars are loaded with tanks and military trucks 4:52. Divisions of fighting men aboard the trains 5:09. The tanks roll down the tracks on flatcars 5:35. The wheels of war are rolling 6:14. The day by day mass movement of freight is shown at the train yard 6:48. Trains crossing country on railroad tracks 7:40. Trains service the shipyards as men work building military ships 8:00. A ship is launched 8:15. Cattle and pigs are delivered throughout the 48 states 8:37. Potatoes are tilled in the field with heavy equipment 9:00. Oranges are picked and packed in southern states 9:13. Military bombers soar through the air 9:23. Heavy machinery workers in the factories 9:48. Factories and men building artillery shells 9:55. Tanks roll off the product line and onto the railroad tracks 10:10. Locomotive struggles up a hill 10:25. Miners and their lamp hats head down the tunnels by rail 10:38. Oil fields are shown 11:15. Oil is loaded onto railway tankers 11:38. Machines digging the copper mines 12:08. The big diggers pick up 8 cubic yards of copper at a time 12:18. The railroad moves the copper to the smelters 12:31. Sulfur mines using forced steam 12:50. Sulfur is moved by train to the gunpowder makers 13:25. Logging industry is served with the railroads 14:00. Cotton and scrap metal industries are also served by rail 14:18. Old cars are being called back into use for the war effort 15:30. Locomotive number 3723 comes out of retirement by the trainmen 15:48. Various train parts are marked and taken away for repair or replacement 16:07. Men work in factories with fine-tuned machines to retool and refine old parts for new use 16:26. Old firebrick is removed and replaced 16:43. Acetylene torches are used inside the huge boilers 16:49. Huge wheels are cleaned and dipped and sprayed ready for use 17:08. Heat is used to expand the metals 17:18. Locomotive number 3723 is fully refurbished and ready for the tracks 18:05. All types of equipment need to be refurbished for the war effort 18:46. The men use heat and molten metal to reshape old parts for new use 19:00. Gears are ground with precision 19:13. The railroads motto, “let’s keep ‘em rolling” 19:24. The men work on building new track 19:35. Men using hammers to straighten out tracks 19:53. The towermen, bridge crews, conductors, station men, ticket men, dispatchers, signalmen and to the other thousands of men – give the railroad men their due 20:44. Women are also an integral part of the success of the railroad 21:07. The women work in offices but also in factories with heavy machinery and molten metal 21:21. Two women wash down a train 21:30. The wheels of war are rolling 21:40. Military men march in unison 21:47. Train caboose pulls away from the camera 22:52. A flag with 8057 turns into the American flag and waves in the breeze 23:06. The End. Santa Fe.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com