Stan Kistler’s Santa Fe in Black & White

By Stan Kistler with John R. Signor.  

The Santa Fe Railway with its long history of superior passenger service, signature red and silver warbonnet-painted locomotives, massive steam engines and transcontinental franchise from Chicago to the Pacific Coast, touched the lives of generations of the shipping and traveling public, and indeed figured prominently in the affections of many–a fondness that lingers today, even more than two decades after the railway itself has been lost to merger.  While many have recorded the comings and goings of this great transportation system over the years, since the mid-1940s, one photographer has stood out.  Working predominantly in black and white, Stan Kistler captured the essence of what was the Santa Fe–the people, the operations, the equipment and facilities and the fleeting moments all frozen on small celluloid frames coated with silver halide emulsion.  This then is a tribute to Stan’s seven decades of black and white photography.  It brings together in the 180 pages of one volume a retrospective of Stan’s work, all personally selected by him.  11×8½ hardback, 175 photos.