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This artifact is an original brass railroad switch key from the Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe (ATSF) Railroad Company. The ATSF was chartered in 1859 by the Kansas Territorial legislature and closely followed the old Sante Fe Trail. This trail was formed by the wheels of conestoga wagons during the Westward expansion. After many years of hard work, the tracks finally reached Sante Fe, NM in 1880. The ATSF had a rich history but no longer exists! In the mid 1990s, Burlington Northern bought them out and renamed the two railways the Burlington Northern & Sante Fe Railway.
Switch
locks were used to lock the switches on railroad tracks. The switches
in the track could reroute trains, so they had to be locked to prevent
tampering. The earliest switch locks were made of cast brass. The
railroads marked their switch locks with their logo, initials, or name.
The
keys were also stamped with the railroad names.
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