The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" because it often carried celebrities between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.
The Super Chief (Nos. 17 and 18) was the first diesel-electric powered cross-country passenger train in America. The train eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The extra-fare ($10) Super Chief left Dearborn Station in Chicago for its first trip on May 12, 1936. Before starting scheduled service in May 1937, the lightweight version of the Super Chief ran from Los Angeles over recently upgraded tracks in 36 hours and 49 minutes, averaging overall and reaching .
With one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. After more passenger cars were delivered in 1938, the Super Chief ran twice weekly that year, and later (from 1948) trips were again increased, to offer daily service. Adding to the train's mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele.
Competitors to the Super Chief were the City of Los Angeles trains on the Chicago and North Western Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad, and (to a lesser extent) the Golden State on the Rock Island and Southern Pacific lines. The Santa Fe Super Chief was one of the last passenger trains in the United States to carry an all-Pullman consist; only the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited and the Illinois Central's Panama Limited outlasted it. The Super Chief maintained its high level of service until Santa Fe ceased all passenger operations on May 1, 1971.
When Amtrak took over operation of the nation's passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, it retained the Super Chief. In 1974, due to a publicly perceived decline in quality of passenger service, the Santa Fe Railway withdrew permission to use the "Chief" trade name, so Amtrak renamed the train the Southwest Limited. In 1984, after new Superliner equipment had replaced the aging original rolling stock, Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to rename its train to the Southwest Chief.
Route
Santa Fe's marketing advantage for the Super Chief lay in the geography of the route as well as its ownership. The Santa Fe began as a rail line along the old Santa Fe and Spanish Trails, from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers (at Atchison and Topeka, Kansas) to the Pecos River and Rio Grande in New Mexico. This initial route was eventually extended to Los Angeles.
The convenience of traveling "Santa Fe All the Way" was superior to anything that the competing jointly operated railroads could provide on their routes to the west coast. A single traffic and operating department managed all the divisions and districts of the Santa Fe route from Chicago to Los Angeles. Dining cars, the commissary supply chains, the on-board service crews and their management; all worked together from Chicago to Los Angeles.
The Super Chief ran through Kansas City, Missouri; Newton, Kansas; Dodge City, Kansas; La Junta, Colorado; Raton, New Mexico; Las Vegas, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Gallup, New Mexico; Winslow, Arizona; Seligman, Arizona; Needles, California; Barstow, California; San Bernardino, California; and Pasadena, California. During the pre-war years the Super Chief did not allow passengers to board or disembark at any point between Kansas City and Barstow; intermediate stops were operating stops only, to change crews or to service the train. During the war the rules were relaxed to carry passengers to and from Albuquerque and La Junta, but only when unsold space was available at train time. Not until the postwar era could passengers travel to intermediate stations on the Super Chief.
History
The Santa Fe intended the Super Chief to be the latest in a long line of luxury Chicago–Los Angeles trains wedded to the latest in railroad technology. In the 1930s, these included air conditioning, lightweight all-metal construction, and diesel locomotion. In August 1935, the General Motors Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) delivered two blunt-nosed diesel-electric units Nos. 1 and 1A, intended to pull the Super Chief. Aside from an ALCO HH600 switcher at Dearborn Station in Chicago, they were the Santa Fe's first diesel-electrics and the first such trains intended for passenger service. The locomotives made their first test run with a set of Pullman cars and a dynamometer car in September 1935. The first Super Chief operated on May 12, 1936, with the diesels pulling air-conditioned heavyweight Pullman cars. They were put into regular service on May 18, 1937.
In 1937, Santa Fe purchased several of Electro-Motive's new "Streamliner Series" diesel-electric locomotives and placed them in service on the Super Chief line. These locomotives were the first to wear Santa Fe's red, yellow, and silver "War bonnet" color scheme. EMC's sleek and efficient streamlined locomotives became the standard on North American railroads. Hollywood celebrities frequently rode the fashionable Super Chief, making it known as "The Train of The Stars".
Transcontinental sleeping cars By January 1954, the Super Chief had inherited from the Santa Fe's Chief the service of running continuous Los Angeles-New York sleeping cars continuing from Chicago on the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited and on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad offered a similar service with Los Angeles-Washington, D.C., sleepers on that company's Shenandoah westbound and Capitol Limited eastbound. Santa Fe Transcontinental Passenger Service However, in October 1957 the PRR dropped its Broadway Limited sleeper connection. Upon the April 1958 timetables, the cooperating railroads terminated their transcontinental sleeper operations. Declining ridership and delay from switching sleeping cars between Chicago terminals were factors in the through-car termination.(1) New York Central timetable, February 16, 1958, 'Pullman, Coach and Dining Car Service,' through sleeper present(2) New York Central timetable, April 27, 1958, 'Pullman, Coach and Dining Car Service,' through sleeper absent(3) (4) Christopher T. Baer, 'A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT' http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR1957.pdf(5)
Timeline
May 10, 1937: The last of four "preview" runs of the Super Chief-2, with an improved 3,600 hp (2.7 MW), two-unit, streamlined diesel locomotive set built by Electro Motive Corporation (EMC), concludes as the train pulls into Los Angeles. All heavyweight cars used on the Super Chief are replaced with lightweight stainless-steel cars. The public is invited to tour the new train at Santa Fe's La Grande Station on May 11 and 12. May 15, 1937: The Super Chief departs Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. PST. The train reaches Chicago in 36 hours and 49 minutes, setting a record. Both new E1 units suffered mechanical damage during the trip and were taken out of service for repairs. May 18, 1937: The lightweight Super Chief starts its first regular run, led by Unit 1A and EMC demonstrator Unit 512 (a.k.a. AT&SF Unit 1C) from Chicago's Dearborn Station. The passenger list includes ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his "sidekick" Charlie McCarthy. (The first pair of E1s were delivered in June.) June 15, 1937: The Super Chief makes its first regular run with EMC E1s 2A and 2B, the first locomotives to wear the famous red, yellow and silver "Warbonnet" scheme. January 1938: E1 Units 3 and 3A are placed in service on the Super Chief. February 26, 1938: Due to production delays, a "borrowed" six-car Chief consist begins running as the Super Chief to allow twice-weekly trips. July 2, 1938: Lightweight cars built by Pullman-Standard replace the Chief cars. Until 1946 each trainset makes a weekly round trip between Chicago and Los Angeles, averaging per day. 1941: The Santa Fe takes delivery of its only 2,000 hp (1.5 MW) ALCO DL-107/108 model locomotives, units 50 and 50A. July 7, 1942: The Super Chief goes on a wartime schedule of 41 hours, 45 minutes. Consist expands to 12 cars. June 2, 1946: The train reverts to its prewar schedule of 39 hours and 45 minutes. September 29, 1946: Super Chief begins running every other day, departing Los Angeles and Chicago on even-numbered days. With the El Capitan departing on odd-numbered days (except the 31st), the two trains form what the Santa Fe bills as "the first and only daily hour service between Chicago and California." February 29, 1948: AT&SF receives its first post-War order from Pullman-Standard and places these into service on the Super Chief. The railroad now has five Super Chief trainsets, enough to operate daily. December 29, 1949: Train No. 17, led by locomotive set #37L/A/B/C, collides with a tanker truck in Azusa, California. All four locomotives, baggage car #3409, and railway post office #88 are damaged by fire. 1950–1951: The Super Chief is reequipped with new streamlined sleeping cars built by the Budd Company and the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF), and dining cars from Pullman-Standard. Santa Fe also adds the Pullman-built "Pleasure Dome"-Lounge car (one of the most luxurious ever made for any train) to its Super Chief consists, billing it as the "...only dome car between Chicago and Los Angeles." A speedometer in the front of the car showed the train's velocity. June 1952: The Super Chief is featured in the Warner Bros. film Three for Bedroom "C" starring Gloria Swanson. 1954: The General Tire and Rubber Company uses the Super Chief as the centerpiece of a print advertisement for its new "Nygen Cord" tire, in which the train is towed by an AT&SF switcher using one of the tires as a connecting link. January 10, 1954: The $15.00 extra-fare is reduced to $7.50; the barbershop and shower-bath are discontinued. The Super Chief begins rolling the coast-to-coast Pullmans (which go through to New York City on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited or the New York Central's 20th Century Limited route; east from Washington, it runs on the Shenandoah line westbound to Washington it runs on the Capitol Limited) route; transcontinental sleepers had formerly been carried by the Chief. 1956: Round-back observation cars are removed from the Super Chief, converted to blunt-back cars at Pullman's Calumet, Illinois shops and are returned to train Nos. 17 and 18. In early 1958 they are permanently removed from service. October 1957: The Pennsylvania Railroad discontinues its sleeping car connection. January 12, 1958: The Super Chief and El Capitan are combined during the off-peak season on a 39-hour schedule. April 1958: The continuous Los Angeles-east coast sleeper carriages in cooperation with the New York Central and Baltimore and Ohio are terminated. 1958: The five Super Chief trainsets are refurbished and redecorated.
On May 1, 1971, Amtrak took over operation of intercity passenger rail service in the United States. Amtrak retained the Super Chief/El Capitan names with Santa Fe's permission. From June 11 to September 10, 1972, Amtrak operated the Chief, a second Chicago–Los Angeles train along the same route. This was the only occasion on which Amtrak ran a second train to duplicate a long-distance service along its entire route outside the New York–Florida corridor. Amtrak dropped the El Capitan designation on April 19, 1973. On March 7, 1974, the Santa Fe directed Amtrak to stop using the Super Chief and Texas Chief names due to a perceived reduction in the quality of service. The trains were renamed Southwest Limited and Lone Star on May 19. On November 30, 1980, Amtrak replaced the ex-Super Chief "Pleasure Dome" and "Hi-Level" cars on the Southwest Limited with new Superliners.
Equipment used