hello
i am wondering, where did the super chief run to and from, and what where its years in service [:I]
chicago to la, 1930’s til 1970
The streamlined Super Chief ran under ATSF from 1937 until Amtrak (5/1/71), and then under Amtrak until the mid-70’s, when Amtrak attempted to downgrade the service and ATSF angrily revoked their license for the use of the “Chief” trademark. As a result, Amtrak renamed the train the Southwest Limited, a moniker that lasted until several years ago when they got the rights to the name back and renamed the train the “Southwest Chief”. By the mid-1960’s the all-Pullman Super was running combined with the hi-level all-coach El Capitan, except during summers and peak holiday seasons, when they ran as separate sections of trains 17/18.
When combined (even under Amtrak until the advent of the Superliners), each trainset was effectively segregated (although the last El Cap car was a transition coach to allow crew passage, and you could go back and forth under Amtrak–the doors weren’t locked) with separate diner and lounge for the El Cap and Super. Transit between the coaches and sleepers was very strongly discouraged by the train crew (they’d run you out if they caught you), but my brand new bride and I easily crossed between sections in 1973, holding coach tickets on the El Cap but celebrating our wedding with the champagne dinner in the Super’s diner. Of course, it didn’t hurt that we were very well dressed, and I doubt seriously that anyone in the crew except the conductor (whom we asked before crossing the vestibule no man’s land) knew we weren’t holding sleeper space.
Bigg Boy,
Hello… let me see if I can help you out…
The Super Chief was initially a heavyweight train, inaugurated on May 12, 1936 (Santa Fe President samuel T. Bledsoe’s birthday) as a once-a-week Limited.
Departing Chicago every Tuesday evening at 7:15pm, Train No. 17 arrived in Los Angeles at 9:00 Thursday morning. Returning, Train No. 18 left Los Angeles’ La Grande depot at 8:00 Friday night, gliding into Dearborn Station at 1:45 Sunday afternoon. This running time sliced an astonishing 13 to 15 hours (in practical terms, an entire day) off the running time of The Chief and made possible, for the first time ever, business travel between Chicago and the West Coast with the loss of only one business-day en route.
When Santa Fe passenger service was handed off to Amtrak on May 1, 1971, there was at first no discernable difference to the public. The Super Chief retained its name, its service numbers (17 and 18 ), and its original equipment (already among the very best Amtrak had to choose from). However, Amtrak had trouble finding its footing during those early “rainbow years”, and equipment and service began to deteriorate. Santa Fe could not halt this trend, but they had wisely retained the rights to the Super Chief name, and revoked its use by Amtrak until Amtrak’s equipment and service measured up to what Santa Fe considered a minimum acceptable standard. This is the reason why, from 1974 to 1984, the service was named The Southwest Limited, Trains 3 and 4.
Today, with Superliner II equipment and “Genesis” motive power, Trains 3 and 4, The Southwest Chief (yes, Santa Fe did permit that compromise) are arguably among Amtrak’s finest long-distance trains. But it is sobering to know that, despite six-plus decades of progress, today’s
I didn’t see anyone else mention it, so another bit of information.
The Super Chief ran on Santa Fe’s “northern main” line through Kansas and Colorado, Raton NM, and Albuquerque.
The Chief took the “southern main” through Oklahoma & Texas to Albuqueque.