Super Chief
Encyclopedia
The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains
and the flagship
of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
. It was often referred to as "The Train of the Stars" because of the many celebrities who traveled on the streamliner between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California
.
The Super Chief (assigned train Nos. 17 & 18) was the first Diesel-powered
, all-Pullman
sleeping car
train in America, and it eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The extra-fare Super Chief-1 commenced its maiden run from Dearborn Station
in Chicago on May 12, 1936. Just over a year later, in May, 1937 the much-improved Super Chief-2 traversed the 2227.3 miles (3,584.5 km) from Los Angeles over recently upgraded tracks in 36 hours and 49 minutes, averaging 60 mile per hour overall, and often reaching 100 mile per hour.
On that day the Super Chief set a new standard for luxury rail travel in America. With only one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. However, at the height of its popularity, and with added equipment, the trains of the Super Chief made daily departures from both ends of the line. Adding to the train's mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele.
Direct competitors to the Super Chief during its lifetime were the City of Los Angeles
, a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway
and the Union Pacific Railroad
, and (to a lesser extent) the Golden State, a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Rock Island and Southern Pacific
railroads. 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
survived longer. The train maintained its legendary high level of service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1, 1971.
When Amtrak
took over operation of the nation's passenger service on May 1, 1971 it ended the 35-year run of the Super Chief on the Santa Fe, though Amtrak would continue to use the name along the same route for another three years. In 1974 the Santa Fe forced Amtrak to drop the train's name due to a perceived decline in service. Amtrak replaced the train over the same route with its Southwest Limited
. Following the delivery of new Superliner equipment, the Santa Fe compromised with Amtrak and the train became known as the Southwest Chief
in 1984.
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 ruled 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 as a single unit (as they were working for a single company) from the moment a passenger boarded the train in Chicago, until they alighted in Los Angeles.
The original Super Chief route ran from Chicago 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
, before terminating at Los Angeles. During the pre-war years the Super Chief did not allow passengers to board or disembark at any point between Kansas City and Barstow; all intermediate stops were operating stops only, to change crews and/or to service the train. During the war years the rules were relaxed to carry passengers to and from the intermediate points of Albuquerque and La Junta, but only when unsold space was available at train time. It was not until the postwar era that passengers could freely travel to intermediate station stops on the Super Chief.
set (one hood unit and the other a cabless booster unit) would be pulling Super Chief consists.
A variety of state-of-the-art locomotives (including ALCO PA
s, EMD E6
s, FT
s, F3
s, F7
s, and FP45
s, along with Santa Fe's only ALCO DL-107/108s and FM Erie-built
units) would make their appearances on the line in the succeeding years. All wore the now-familiar Warbonnet paint scheme devised by Leland Knickerbocker of the GM
"Art and Color Section" that debuted on the Super Chief-2.
The Super Chief-1's mostly-heavyweight original consist included:
NOTE: Lightweight sleeper Forward was built in the summer of 1936 as the first Pullman sleeping car utilizing the "alloy-steel truss frame" method. This car was an addition to the first (heavyweight) Super Chief consist in November 1936 (after early diesel units 1-A, 1-B and leased 1-C [the "One Spot Twins"] had proved their ability to maintain the rigorus schedule). It was built unpainted with fluted sides but was painted dark grey with black and gold striping for use on the Santa Fe. Forward was built in the same period as the articulated set Advance and Progress (constructed in August 1936), which were later used on the early C&NW/UP/SP Chicago-San Francisco "Forty-Niner" which used semi-streamlined heavyweight dining, lounge and sleeping cars with the articulated set on the rear renamed Bear Flag and California Republic. See Joe Welsh, Travel by Pullman, MBI Publishing, 2004.
In May 1937, the heavyweight equipment used on the Super Chief was replaced with all lightweight stainless steel
cars built by the Budd Company
(the heavyweight cars were placed back in service with the Chief). For the new lightweight train (the Super Chief-2), the equipment used was as follows:
The sleeping cars in this consist were operated by Pullman
but were owned by the Santa Fe
. The car names were chosen to commemorate the Native American
tribes, pueblo
s, and cities found along the railroad's route.
On February 26, 1938 the consist was modified somewhat:
The railroad also added another trainset (the Super Chief-2½) utilizing sleeping cars borrowed from the Chief in order to handle the high demand for passage aboard the train. Its original consist was as follows:
On July 2 of that year the permanent Super Chief-3 consist was established:
Beginning in 1947, a typical Super Chief consist:
A typical Super Chief consist from 1948 to 1951:
In the 1940s and into the '50s
, the Super Chief occasionally interchanged sleepers with other railroads in order to provide "coast-to-coast" sleeping car service. In those instances, sleepers from eastern connections would take the place of Regal– or Pine–series cars:
A typical Super Chief consist from 1951 to 1956:
A typical Super Chief consist from the early 1960s (all-Pullman section):
A typical Super Chief consist from the late 1960s (combined with El Capitan):
The Super Chief quickly became "the" train to ride between Chicago and Los Angeles, much as New York Central's 20th Century Limited
was the favored travel option of the time for the East Coast-bound. To acquaint passengers with the various points-of-interest located along the route, Santa Fe constructed a series of seven signs marking such notable features as the Continental Divide
and Raton Pass
.
In the mid-1940s, company president Fred G. Gurley went to great lengths to solicit business from California's motion picture industry. To that end, a passenger agent was located in Hollywood specifically for the purpose of maintaining close contact with the movie studios. Furthermore, the train stopped at the Pasadena
station solely for the purpose of allowing celebrities the opportunity to board or disembark away from the "hustle and bustle" of Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT). When the Santa Fe was notified that a particular celebrity was going to be traveling on board the Super Chief, a press release was issued to allow the media the opportunity to interview and photograph the star.
In time, the passenger list would resemble a veritable "who's who" of Hollywood stars: Richard Burton
and Elizabeth Taylor
, Humphrey Bogart
and Lauren Bacall
, Dean Martin
and Jerry Lewis
, Desi Arnaz
and Lucille Ball
, James Cagney
, Judy Garland
, and Bing Crosby
(to name but a few) all rode the Super Chief. The train's appeal was not limited to those in the entertainment industry, though, as it also played host to Ronald Reagan
, former presidents Harry S. Truman
and Dwight D. Eisenhower
, and their wives.
released Three for Bedroom "C", a romantic comedy starring Gloria Swanson
, James Warren
, Fred Clark
, Hans Conried
, and Steve Brodie
. In the film, an aging movie star (Swanson) hides out in a compartment during a cross-country journey from New York to Los Angeles aboard the Super Chief.
Swanson's first color film also bears the distinction of being one of very few to be shot entirely aboard actual railroad equipment. Santa Fe transported actual passenger cars from the Super Chief to the production company's studio lot for filming. The film met with lukewarm reviews and was not, as had been hoped, a financial success. It did, however, nicely showcase the many features of the Super Chief, which many train buffs feel is the real star of the motion picture.
deliberately reminiscent of Agatha Christie's
Murder on the Orient Express
, tells the story of a Santa Fe Railroad Police
detective who must try to solve two unrelated murders on the Super Chief, one on the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, the second on the return trip, while simultaneously dealing with the foibles of a number of celebrities riding the train on those trips, including Former President Harry S Truman and movie star Clark Gable
.
Most railroads began offering some form of meal service on their trains as an alternate to the poor fare typically found at trackside establishments even before the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad
. By the mid-1880s, dedicated dining car
s were a normal part of all long-distance train consists departing from Chicago for points west, save for those of the Santa Fe, who relied on America's first interstate network of restaurants to feed its passengers en route. The legendary "Harvey House
s," located strategically along the line, served top-quality meals to railroad patrons during water stops and other planned layovers and were favored over in-transit facilities for all trains operating west of Kansas City
.
The Super Chief included dining cars, staffed by Fred Harvey Company personnel, as part of its standard consist from the outset. In general, the Super Chief operated 36-seat dining cars, although most of them were convertible to 48-seat dining cars with a flip-top (or change of) table and addition of chairs. Dining cars almost always operated with a lounge car coupled to them for bar-lounge service and a waiting area when the dining car was full. Unlike the Union Pacific "City" trains, the Super Chief and other Santa Fe trains did not use the "twin-unit" dining cars. Santa Fe, in general, ran somewhat shorter trains that could be serviced with a single dining car (although the heavyweight trains frequently operated in several sections, the streamlined trains generally did not). The height of Super Chief lounge and dining facilities came in 1951 with the new 600-series Dining Cars bracketed by the 500 series Pleasure Domes in front and a bar-lounge-dormitory unit in back (moved from the front of the trains). The train still operated with the Vista-series 4 Drawing Room, 1 double bedroom observation cars on the rear, albeit without any bar or buffet service.
The bar-lounge cars next to the diner always included dormitory space for the train crew (a staff of 3-4 cooks and 6-7 stewards) required for the two-night and one day trip. The eight Pullmans on the train had a capacity of between 150 and 200 passengers when full but often ran with single occupancy rooms, making the passenger load less.
When Santa Fe rolled out its new "Pleasure Dome
"-Lounge cars in 1951, the railroad introduced the traveling public to the Turquoise Room, promoted as "The only private dining room in the world on rails." The room accommodated 12 guests, and could be reserved anytime for private dinner or cocktail parties, or other special functions. The room was often used by celebrities and dignitaries traveling on the Super Chief. As was the case on other railroads, dining car service proved to be a losing proposition financially. Santa Fe, more than any of its competitors, took the concept of using onboard meal service as a "loss leader" to the highest level to attract and retain customers. Consequently, the name Super Chief became synonymous with the finest fare available on wheels.
The Continental cuisine offered aboard the Super Chief went beyond the typical American fare found on other trains, and often rivaled that served in many five-star restaurants, befitting the train's upscale clientele. A "Wake-Up Cup" of coffee was brought to one's private bedroom each morning, on request, a service exclusive to the Super Chief. Breakfast and lunch were served à la carte
, while dinner could be ordered either à la carte or table d'hôte
.
The elaborate dinner offerings generally included caviar
and other delicacies, cold salads, grilled and sauteéd fish, sirloin steaks and filet mignon, lamb chops, and the like. For discerning palates, elegant champagne dinners were an option. Ironically, one of the Super Chief' s most popular signature dishes was the AT&SF version of pain perdu, simply and appropriately named Santa Fe French Toast.
(architect
, Indian art expert, and 35-year veteran of the Fred Harvey Company) designed the china and silverware used on the Super Chief. Colter, who also designed the interiors of Fred Harvey’s opulent La Fonda, La Posada, and El Tovar hotels, based her dinnerware motif on the Native American
pictographs of animals and geometric patterns left behind on clay pots
by the ancient inhabitants of the Rio Mimbres Valley in southwestern New Mexico
, around 1100 A.D.
.
The "Mimbreño" pattern was produced between 1936 and 1970 by the Onondaga Pottery Co. of Syracuse, New York
under its better-known trade name, Syracuse China. The bottoms carried the inscription "Made expressly for Santa Fe Dining Car Service." These distinctive pieces made their debut on the dining car Cochiti in 1937. Used on the Super Chief and other named trains until the end of Santa Fe passenger service in 1971, original Mimbreño dinnerware can still be found today in service on BNSF Railway
business cars.
Mimbreño has been dubbed "the oldest of all railroad china" as its design concept dates back nearly ten centuries. Demand for surviving original pieces has created a substantial collector's market, and led to the issuance of authorized reproductions in recent years.
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
and the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
. It was often referred to as "The Train of the Stars" because of the many celebrities who traveled on the streamliner between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
The Super Chief (assigned train Nos. 17 & 18) was the first Diesel-powered
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
, all-Pullman
Pullman Company
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
sleeping car
Sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
train in America, and it eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The extra-fare Super Chief-1 commenced its maiden run from Dearborn Station
Dearborn Station (Chicago)
Dearborn Station was the oldest of the six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago during the heyday of rail in the twentieth century. Additionally, the station was used as a terminal for commuter traffic. Located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, it was also referred to as Polk Street Station...
in Chicago on May 12, 1936. Just over a year later, in May, 1937 the much-improved Super Chief-2 traversed the 2227.3 miles (3,584.5 km) from Los Angeles over recently upgraded tracks in 36 hours and 49 minutes, averaging 60 mile per hour overall, and often reaching 100 mile per hour.
On that day the Super Chief set a new standard for luxury rail travel in America. With only one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. However, at the height of its popularity, and with added equipment, the trains of the Super Chief made daily departures from both ends of the line. Adding to the train's mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele.
Direct competitors to the Super Chief during its lifetime were the City of Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles was a streamlined passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad; east of Omaha it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway until...
, a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway
Chicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
and the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
, and (to a lesser extent) the Golden State, a streamlined passenger train jointly operated by the Rock Island and Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
railroads. 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
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
's Broadway Limited
Broadway Limited
The Broadway Limited was the Pennsylvania Railroad's premier named passenger train, operating daily in each direction between New York City and Chicago, via North Philadelphia. It replaced its predecessors, the Pennsylvania Limited and the Pennsylvania Special...
and the Illinois Central's
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
Panama Limited
Panama Limited
The Panama Limited was a premier all-Pullman car service between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. For most of the trains' history a St. Louis section also operated between St...
survived longer. The train maintained its legendary high level of service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1, 1971.
When Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
took over operation of the nation's passenger service on May 1, 1971 it ended the 35-year run of the Super Chief on the Santa Fe, though Amtrak would continue to use the name along the same route for another three years. In 1974 the Santa Fe forced Amtrak to drop the train's name due to a perceived decline in service. Amtrak replaced the train over the same route with its Southwest Limited
Southwest Limited
The name Southwest Limited has been used by the following American passenger trains:*a Chicago-Los Angeles train operated by Amtrak, and now known as the Southwest Chief...
. Following the delivery of new Superliner equipment, the Santa Fe compromised with Amtrak and the train became known as the Southwest Chief
Southwest Chief
The Southwest Chief is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2256-mile BNSF route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California...
in 1984.
Route
The heart of Santa Fe’s marketing advantage for the Super Chief lay in the geography of the route as well as its ownership. The Santa Fe had originally begun as the constructing of a rail line traversing the old Santa Fe and Spanish Trails, from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers (at Atchison and Topeka, KS) to the Pecos and Rio Grande rivers 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 ruled 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 as a single unit (as they were working for a single company) from the moment a passenger boarded the train in Chicago, until they alighted in Los Angeles.
The original Super Chief route ran from Chicago through Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
; Newton, Kansas
Newton, Kansas
Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
; Dodge City, Kansas
Dodge City, Kansas
Dodge City is a city in, and the county seat of, Ford County, Kansas, United States. Named after nearby Fort Dodge, the city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,340.-History:The first settlement of...
; La Junta, Colorado
La Junta, Colorado
The City of La Junta is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,568 at the U.S. Census 2000. La Junta is located on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado east of Pueblo.-History:During...
; Raton, New Mexico
Raton, New Mexico
Raton is a city in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 7,282 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Colfax County. The city is located just south of Raton Pass.-Name:...
; Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas is a city in San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities both named Las Vegas, west Las Vegas and east Las Vegas , divided by the Gallinas River, retain distinct characters and separate, rival school districts. The population was 14,565 at the 2000...
; Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
; Gallup, New Mexico
Gallup, New Mexico
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 20,209 people, 6,810 households, and 4,869 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,513.7 people per square mile...
; Winslow, Arizona
Winslow, Arizona
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 9,520 people, 2,754 households, and 1,991 families residing in the city. The population density was 773.1 people per square mile . There were 3,198 housing units at an average density of 259.7 per square mile...
; Seligman, Arizona
Seligman, Arizona
Seligman is a census-designated place in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The population was 456 at the 2000 census.-History:Between 1889-1891, Seligman was established by the Theut and Moultrie families. Both were prosperous slaughterhouse owners in Southern antebellum families who lost...
; Needles, California
Needles, California
Needles is a city located in the Mojave Desert on the western banks of the Colorado River in San Bernardino County, California. It is located in the Mohave Valley, which straddles the California–Arizona border. The city is accessible via Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 95...
; Barstow, California
Barstow, California
Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 22,639 at the 2010 census, up from 21,119 at the 2000 census. Barstow is located north of San Bernardino....
; San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
; and Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, before terminating at Los Angeles. During the pre-war years the Super Chief did not allow passengers to board or disembark at any point between Kansas City and Barstow; all intermediate stops were operating stops only, to change crews and/or to service the train. During the war years the rules were relaxed to carry passengers to and from the intermediate points of Albuquerque and La Junta, but only when unsold space was available at train time. It was not until the postwar era that passengers could freely travel to intermediate station stops on the Super Chief.
History
- August 1935: General Motors Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) delivers two blunt-nosed diesel-electric units Nos. 1 and 1A, which would ultimately power the Super Chief.
- September 9, 1935: Nos. 1 and 1A make their first test run under load with eight heavyweight passenger cars and a dynamometer carDynamometer carA dynamometer car is a railroad maintenance of way car used for measuring various aspects of a locomotive's performance. Measurements include tractive effort , power, top speed, etc.-History:...
. - May 12, 1936: The Santa FeAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe RailwayThe Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
inaugurates the all-diesel powered Super Chief-1 amid much fanfare. Eleanor PowellEleanor PowellEleanor Torrey Powell was an American film actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing.-Early life:...
, Hollywood's legendary dancer, christens it "The Train of the Stars." - May 10, 1937: The last of four "preview" runs of the Super Chief-2, which utilizes an improved 3,600 hp (2.7 MW), two-unit, streamlined diesel locomotive set built by EMC as motive power, concludes as the train pulls into Union Station in Los AngelesUnion Station (Los Angeles)Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California. The station has rail services by Amtrak and Amtrak California and Metrolink; light rail/subways are the Metro Rail Red Line, Purple Line, Gold Line. Bus rapid transport runs on the Silver Line...
. All heavyweight cars used on the Super Chief are replaced with lightweight stainless steel cars. The general public is invited to tour the new train at Santa Fe's La Grande StationLa Grande StationLa Grande Station was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's main passenger terminal in Los Angeles, California, until damage from the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 forced its closure. When Union Station opened in 1939, Santa Fe moved all of its passenger services there.- History :Santa Fe...
on May 11 and 12. - May 15, 1937: The Super Chief-2 departs Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. PST. The train completes its maiden run in just 36 hours and 49 minutes (2 hours and 56 minutes ahead of schedule), setting a new Santa Fe speed record in the process, one that would never be broken. It would subsequently be determined that both of the new E1 units suffered mechanical damage during the trip east, and they would be taken out of service for repairs.
- May 18, 1937: The Super Chief-2 commences its first regular run, led by Unit 1A and EMC demonstrator Unit 512 (a.k.a. AT&SF Unit 1C), as it departs Chicago's Dearborn StationDearborn Station (Chicago)Dearborn Station was the oldest of the six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago during the heyday of rail in the twentieth century. Additionally, the station was used as a terminal for commuter traffic. Located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, it was also referred to as Polk Street Station...
. The passenger list includes ventriloquist Edgar BergenEdgar BergenEdgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
and his "sidekick" Charlie McCarthy. - January 1938: E1 Units 3 and 3A are added to the Santa Fe roster and placed into service on the Super Chief-2.
- February 26, 1938: A "borrowed" six-car Chief consist begins operating as the Super Chief-2½ due to production delays in order to provide twice-weekly service on the line.
- July 2, 1938: A second, all-lightweight trainset built by Pullman-StandardPullman CompanyThe Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
enters service as the Super Chief-3 and officially replaces the Super Chief-2½. Until 1946 each trainset makes a weekly round trip between Chicago and Los Angeles, averaging 636 miles 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 respectively.
- July 7, 1942: The Super Chief goes on a wartime schedule of 41 hours, 45 minutes. Consist size expands to 12 cars.
- June 2, 1946: The line reverts to its prewar schedule of 39 hours and 45 minutes.
- September 29, 1946: The Super Chief begins an every-other-day departure schedule from Chicago and Los Angeles, leaving each terminal on even days of the month.
- January 25, 1948: Locomotive #19L, leading the Super Chief, loses braking ability while preparing to depart Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPTUnion Station (Los Angeles)Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California. The station has rail services by Amtrak and Amtrak California and Metrolink; light rail/subways are the Metro Rail Red Line, Purple Line, Gold Line. Bus rapid transport runs on the Silver Line...
). The train crashes through a steel bumper post and then a concrete wall located at the end of the dead-end track, and ultimately comes to rest with the front half of the locomotive dangling 20 feet (6 m) above the street below. Although there are no injuries, the engineer loses his job over the incident. - February 29, 1948: The AT&SF receives the first post-War equipment order from Pullman-Standard and places these into service on the Super Chief. The railroad now has five Super Chief trainsets and the frequency of operation is upgraded to daily.
- December 29, 1949: Train No. 17, led by locomotive set #37L/A/B/C, collides with a tanker truck in Azusa, CaliforniaAzusa, CaliforniaAzusa is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 46,361 at the 2010 census, up from 44,712 at the 2000 census. Though sometimes assumed to be a compaction of the phrase "everything from A to Z in the USA" from an old Jack Benny joke, the place name "Azusa"...
. All four locomotives, baggage car #3409, and railway post office #88 are damaged by fire. - 1950–1951: The Super Chief is reequipped with new streamlinedStreamliner cars (rail)The streamliners are a class of streamlined railway cars built in the forties and fifties of the twentieth century for long distance passenger railservices in North America.-Predecessors:...
sleeping cars built by the Budd Company and the American Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of ACF and ACF-Brill. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri...
(ACF), and dining cars from Pullman-Standard. Santa Fe also adds the Pullman-built "Pleasure DomeDome carA dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...
"-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 located in the front of the car allowed passengers to monitor the train's velocity. - June 1952: The Super Chief is prominently featured in the Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film Three for Bedroom C starring Gloria SwansonGloria SwansonGloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
. - 1954: The General Tire and Rubber CompanyGeneral TireThe General Tire and Rubber Company is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles.General Tire was founded in 1915 in Akron, Ohio by William F. O'Neil. Products included the low-pressure "General Balloon Jumbo" and the "Dual 90" tire...
utilizes 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 switcherSwitcherA switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
utilizing one of the tires as a connecting link. - January 10, 1954: The $15.00 extra-fare charge is reduced to $7.50; the barbershop and shower-bath are discontinued. The Super Chief started carrying the coast-to-coast Pullmans (which ran through to New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on the Broadway LimitedBroadway LimitedThe Broadway Limited was the Pennsylvania Railroad's premier named passenger train, operating daily in each direction between New York City and Chicago, via North Philadelphia. It replaced its predecessors, the Pennsylvania Limited and the Pennsylvania Special...
or the 20th Century Limited20th Century LimitedThe 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad from 1902 to 1967, during which time it would become known as a "National Institution" and the "Most Famous Train in the World". In the year of its last run, The New York Times said that it "...was...
); the transcon sleepers had formerly been carried by the Chief. - 1956: Round-end observation cars are removed from Super Chief service, converted to blunt-ended cars at Pullman's Calumet, IllinoisCalumet City, IllinoisCalumet City is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 39,072 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 60409.Calumet City was founded in 1892 when the villages of Schrumville and Sobieski Park merged under the name of West Hammond, since it lies on the west side of the...
shops, and returned to train Nos. 17 and 18. In early 1958 they are permanently removed from Super Chief service. - January 12, 1958: The Super Chief and El Capitan are combined into one train during the off-peak travel season on a 39½-hour schedule.
- 1958: All five Super Chief trainsets are refurbished and redecorated.
- August 21, 1964: A rail from a passing train "spears" coach #2804 in Kingman, ArizonaKingman, ArizonaKingman is located in a desert climate on the edge of the Mojave Desert, but its higher elevation and location between the Colorado Plateau and the Lower Colorado River Valley tempers summer high temperatures and contributes to winter cold and rare snowfall. Summer daytime highs reach above 90 °F ...
. - January 6, 1969: Locomotives #46L, #39C, #310B, #45B, and #44A derail due to unknown causes in Holcomb, KansasHolcomb, KansasHolcomb is a city in Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,094.-History:Holcomb is known for the murders of four members of the Herbert W. Clutter family, an incident which formed the basis of the Truman Capote book In Cold Blood.-Geography:Holcomb...
. Cars #2924, #2866, #1563, #539, #713, #714, #650, #578, #712, #716, #707, and #526 leave the tracks as well. - May 1, 1971: AmtrakAmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
is formed and takes over operation of the nation's passenger service, thus ending 35 years of the Santa Fe Super Chief. Amtrak retains the use of the Super Chief / El Cap names, with the Santa Fe's concurrence. - 1973: Amtrak drops the El Capitan designation.
- March 7, 1974: The Santa Fe directs Amtrak to discontinue use of the names Super Chief (which then becomes the Southwest LimitedSouthwest LimitedThe name Southwest Limited has been used by the following American passenger trains:*a Chicago-Los Angeles train operated by Amtrak, and now known as the Southwest Chief...
) and Texas Chief (which is renamed the Lone Star) due to a perceived reduction in the quality of service provided on the routes. - November 30, 1980: Amtrak's SuperlinerSuperliner (railcar)The Superliner is a double decker passenger car used by Amtrak on long haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid 1990s by Bombardier Transportation...
s replace the "Pleasure Dome" and "Hi-Level" cars on the Southwest Limited. - October 28, 1984: Due to improvements in service, the Santa Fe allows Amtrak to change the name of the Southwest Limited to the Southwest ChiefSouthwest ChiefThe Southwest Chief is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2256-mile BNSF route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California...
. - August 26, 1999: The United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
issues 33-cent All Aboard! 20th Century American TrainsAll Aboard! 20th Century American TrainsIn August 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a set of 33¢ postage stamps entitled All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains to "pay tribute to American industry and design, and specifically to the heritage of our railroads." Artist Ted Rose created five watercolor images depicting the...
commemorative stampPostage stampA postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s featuring five celebrated American passenger trains from the 1930s and 1940s. One of the five stamps features an image of EMC E1 Unit No. 6 painted in the Super Chief's "warbonnet" livery.
Equipment used
The first motive power set on Super Chief-1 consisted of a pair of blunt-nosed, diesel-electric units (EMC 1800 hp B-B) designated as Nos. 1 and 1A. Santa Fe employees quickly hung the nicknames "One-Spot Twins" and "Amos & Andy" (from the popular radio show of the day) on the units, which were always paired and ran back-to-back. In a little over a year the EMC E1, a new and improved 3,600 hp (2.7 MW) streamlined diesel-electric locomotiveLocomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
set (one hood unit and the other a cabless booster unit) would be pulling Super Chief consists.
A variety of state-of-the-art locomotives (including ALCO PA
ALCO PA
ALCO PA refers to a family of A1A-A1A diesel locomotives built to haul passenger trains that were built in Schenectady, New York in the United States by a partnership of the American Locomotive Company and General Electric between June, 1946 and December, 1953...
s, EMD E6
EMD E6
The EMD E6 was a , A1A-A1A, passenger train locomotive manufactured by Electro-Motive Corporation, and its corporate successor, General Motors Electro-Motive Division, of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, or E6A, was manufactured from November, 1939 to September, 1942, and 91 were produced...
s, FT
EMD FT
The EMD FT was a diesel-electric locomotive produced between November 1939, and November 1945, by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division . All told 555 cab-equipped A units were built, along with 541 cabless booster B units, for a grand total of 1,096 units. The locomotives were all sold to...
s, F3
EMD F3
The EMD F3 was a , B-B freight- and passenger-hauling diesel locomotive produced between July 1945 and February 1949 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant...
s, F7
EMD F7
The EMD F7 was a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and General Motors Diesel . It succeeded the F3 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence, and was replaced in turn by the F9. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La...
s, and FP45
EMD FP45
The EMD FP45 is a cowl unit type of C-C diesel locomotive produced in the United States by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. It was produced beginning in 1967 at the request of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which did not want its prestigious Super Chief and other passenger...
s, along with Santa Fe's only ALCO DL-107/108s and FM Erie-built
FM Erie-built
The Erie-built was the first streamlined, cab-equipped dual service diesel locomotive built by Fairbanks-Morse, introduced as direct competition to such models as the ALCO PA and EMD E-unit...
units) would make their appearances on the line in the succeeding years. All wore the now-familiar Warbonnet paint scheme devised by Leland Knickerbocker of the GM
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
"Art and Color Section" that debuted on the Super Chief-2.
The Super Chief-1's mostly-heavyweight original consist included:
- EMC "Boxcab" Diesel Locomotive #1
- EMC "Boxcab" Diesel Locomotive #1A
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
-Club-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#1301 Chief Yellow Bear (also included a barber shop) - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
(lightweight)Forward (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms) (see NOTE immediately below) - Lounge General Hancock (10 sections)
- Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
#1468 (30 seats) - Sleeper Glen Frazer (6 compartments, 3 drawing rooms)
- Sleeper Clover Knoll (8 sections, 5 double bedrooms)
- Lounge-ObservationObservation carAn observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
Crystal View (3 compartments, 2 drawing rooms)
NOTE: Lightweight sleeper Forward was built in the summer of 1936 as the first Pullman sleeping car utilizing the "alloy-steel truss frame" method. This car was an addition to the first (heavyweight) Super Chief consist in November 1936 (after early diesel units 1-A, 1-B and leased 1-C [the "One Spot Twins"] had proved their ability to maintain the rigorus schedule). It was built unpainted with fluted sides but was painted dark grey with black and gold striping for use on the Santa Fe. Forward was built in the same period as the articulated set Advance and Progress (constructed in August 1936), which were later used on the early C&NW/UP/SP Chicago-San Francisco "Forty-Niner" which used semi-streamlined heavyweight dining, lounge and sleeping cars with the articulated set on the rear renamed Bear Flag and California Republic. See Joe Welsh, Travel by Pullman, MBI Publishing, 2004.
In May 1937, the heavyweight equipment used on the Super Chief was replaced with all lightweight stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
cars built by the Budd Company
Budd Company
The Budd Company is a metal fabricator and major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and was formerly a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars during the 20th century....
(the heavyweight cars were placed back in service with the Chief). For the new lightweight train (the Super Chief-2), the equipment used was as follows:
- EMC E1A Locomotive #2
- EMC E1B Locomotive #2A
- Railway Post OfficeRailway post officeIn the United States a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks, and was off-limits to...
-Mail Storage #3400 (transferred to the San DieganSan DieganThe San Diegan was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and a "workhorse" of the railroad. Its 126-mile route ran from Los Angeles, California south to San Diego. It was assigned train Nos. 70–79 The San Diegan was one of the named passenger trains of the...
prior to entering revenue service) - BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
-Mail #3430 - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Isleta (8 sections, 2 compartments, 1 drawing room) - Sleeper Laguna (8 sections, 2 compartments, 1 drawing room)
- Dormitory-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#1370 Acoma (also included a barber shop) - Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
#1474 Cochiti (36 seats) – now on permanent display at the California State Railroad MuseumCalifornia State Railroad MuseumThe California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the state park system of California, USA, interpreting the role of the "iron horse" in connecting California to the rest of the nation. It is located in Old Sacramento at 111 I Street....
in Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,... - Sleeper Oraibi (2 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Taos (2 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper-Lounge-ObservationObservation carAn observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
Navajo (3 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom); now on permanent display at the Colorado Railroad MuseumColorado Railroad MuseumThe Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum The museum is located on at a point where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden, Colorado....
in Golden, ColoradoGolden, ColoradoThe City of Golden is a home rule municipality that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the edge of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush on 16 June 1859, the mining camp was...
.
The sleeping cars in this consist were operated by Pullman
Pullman Company
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
but were owned by the Santa Fe
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...
. The car names were chosen to commemorate the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes, pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
s, and cities found along the railroad's route.
On February 26, 1938 the consist was modified somewhat:
- EMC E1A Locomotive #2
- EMC E1B Locomotive #2A
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
-Dormitory-Buffet LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#1386 San Clemente - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Tuba (17 roomettes) - Sleeper Isleta (8 sections, 2 compartments, 1 drawing room)
- Sleeper Taos (2 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 6 double bedrooms)
- Dormitory-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#1370 Acoma (also included a barber shop) - Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
#1474 Cochiti (36 seats) - Sleeper Oraibi (2 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Laguna (8 sections, 2 compartments, 1 drawing room)
- Sleeper-Lounge-ObservationObservation carAn observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
Navajo (3 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)
The railroad also added another trainset (the Super Chief-2½) utilizing sleeping cars borrowed from the Chief in order to handle the high demand for passage aboard the train. Its original consist was as follows:
- EMC E1A Locomotive #3
- EMC E1B Locomotive #3A
- Baggage-Dormitory-Buffet Lounge car #1387 San Acacia
- Sleeper Chinle (17 roomettes)
- Sleeper Wupatki (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Klethla (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Dormitory-Lounge #1377 Agathla (also included a barber shop)
- Fred Harvey Company Diner #1485 Awatobi (36 seats)
- Sleeper Polacca (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Yampai (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper-Lounge-Observation Chaistla (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)
On July 2 of that year the permanent Super Chief-3 consist was established:
- EMC E1A Locomotive #3
- EMC E1B Locomotive #3A
- Baggage-Dormitory-Buffet-Lounge #1387 San Acacia
- Sleeper Chimayo (17 roomettes)
- Sleeper Talwiwi (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Tchirge (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Dormitory-Lounge #1377 Agathla (also included a barber shop)
- Fred Harvey Company Diner #1485 Awatobi (36 seats)
- Sleeper Tsankawi (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Tyuonyi (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper-Lounge-Observation Puye (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)
Beginning in 1947, a typical Super Chief consist:
- EMD FTEMD FTThe EMD FT was a diesel-electric locomotive produced between November 1939, and November 1945, by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division . All told 555 cab-equipped A units were built, along with 541 cabless booster B units, for a grand total of 1,096 units. The locomotives were all sold to...
A Locomotive #163L - EMD FTB Locomotive #163A
- EMD FTB Locomotive #163B
- EMD FTA Locomotive #163C
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
-Buffet-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#1384 San Ignacio (also included a barber shop) - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Toroweap (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms) - Sleeper Tonto (17 roomettes)
- Sleeper Moencopi (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Jadito (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Dormitory-Club-Lounge #1375 Moencopi
- Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
(36 seats) #1484 - Sleeper Kietsiel (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Hualapai (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Segatoa (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper-Lounge-ObservationObservation carAn observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
Coconino (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)
A typical Super Chief consist from 1948 to 1951:
- EMD F3EMD F3The EMD F3 was a , B-B freight- and passenger-hauling diesel locomotive produced between July 1945 and February 1949 by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La Grange, Illinois plant...
A Locomotive #17L - EMD F3B Locomotive #17A
- EMD F3B Locomotive #17B
- EMD F3A Locomotive #17C
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
#3446 - Baggage-Buffet-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#1383 San Simon (also included a barber shop) - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Blue Grove (10 roomettes, 2 compartments, 3 double bedrooms)* - Sleeper Blue Point (10 roomettes, 2 compartments, 3 double bedrooms)*
- Sleeper Regal Town (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- DormitoryDormitoryA dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
-Club-Lounge #1392 - Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
(36 seats) #1493 - Sleeper Regal Pass (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Regal Center (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Blue Springs (10 roomettes, 2 compartments, 3 double bedrooms)*
- Lounge-ObservationObservation carAn observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
Vista Canyon (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)
*NOTE: The nineteen "10-2-3" sleepers in the Blue series had a floorplan configuration unique to the Santa Fe.
In the 1940s and into the '50s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
, the Super Chief occasionally interchanged sleepers with other railroads in order to provide "coast-to-coast" sleeping car service. In those instances, sleepers from eastern connections would take the place of Regal– or Pine–series cars:
- (Pine Leaf, Gem, Creek, Pass, Ring, Beach) — Baltimore and Ohio RailroadBaltimore and Ohio RailroadThe Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
"10-6" from Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
off the Capitol Limited via Chicago to San Diego (the longest Pullman run in the United States). - (Pine Arroyo, Brook, Dale, Island, Cove, Fern) — New York CentralNew York Central RailroadThe New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
"10-6" from New York off the 20th Century Limited20th Century LimitedThe 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad from 1902 to 1967, during which time it would become known as a "National Institution" and the "Most Famous Train in the World". In the year of its last run, The New York Times said that it "...was...
via Chicago to L.A. - (Regal Gate, Gulf, Arms, Creek, Town, Court) — New York Central "4-4-2" from New York off the 20th Century Limited via Chicago to L.A.
- (Regal Ruby, River, Spa, City, Inn, Ring) — Pennsylvania RailroadPennsylvania RailroadThe Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
"4-4-2" from New York off the Broadway LimitedBroadway LimitedThe Broadway Limited was the Pennsylvania Railroad's premier named passenger train, operating daily in each direction between New York City and Chicago, via North Philadelphia. It replaced its predecessors, the Pennsylvania Limited and the Pennsylvania Special...
via Chicago to L.A.
A typical Super Chief consist from 1951 to 1956:
- EMD F7EMD F7The EMD F7 was a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and General Motors Diesel . It succeeded the F3 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence, and was replaced in turn by the F9. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La...
A Locomotive #38L - EMD F7B Locomotive #38A
- EMD F7B Locomotive #38B
- EMD F7A Locomotive #38C
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
#3415 - Railway Post OfficeRailway post officeIn the United States a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks, and was off-limits to...
#83 - Baggage-Buffet-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
(also included a barber shop) #1385 San Pascal - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Palm Top (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms) - Sleeper Pine Arroyo (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Regal Corps (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- "Turquoise Room"-"Pleasure DomeDome carA dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...
"-Lounge #502 - Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
(48 seats) #605 - DormitoryDormitoryA dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
-Club-Lounge Car #1343 - Sleeper Regal Hunt (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Regal Manor (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Palm Lore (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper-Lounge-ObservationObservation carAn observation car/carriage/coach is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the last carriage, with windows on the rear of the car for passengers' viewing pleasure...
Vista Club (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)
A typical Super Chief consist from the early 1960s (all-Pullman section):
- EMD F7EMD F7The EMD F7 was a Diesel-electric locomotive produced between February 1949 and December 1953 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and General Motors Diesel . It succeeded the F3 model in GM-EMD's F-unit sequence, and was replaced in turn by the F9. Final assembly was at GM-EMD's La...
A Locomotive #303L - EMD F7B Locomotive #303A
- EMD F7B Locomotive #19A
- EMD F7A Locomotive #44L
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
#3544 - SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Palm Summit (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms) - Sleeper Pine Lodge (10 Roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Indian Drum (11 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Regal Isle (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- "Turquoise Room"-"Pleasure DomeDome carA dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...
"-LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
#501 - Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
(48 seats) #606 - Sleeper Regal Crest (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Indian Pony (11 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Palm Leaf (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Pine Range (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
A typical Super Chief consist from the late 1960s (combined with El Capitan):
- EMD FP45EMD FP45The EMD FP45 is a cowl unit type of C-C diesel locomotive produced in the United States by General Motors Electro-Motive Division. It was produced beginning in 1967 at the request of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which did not want its prestigious Super Chief and other passenger...
Locomotive #104 - EMD FP45 Locomotive #101
- BaggageBaggage carA baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
#3671 - Baggage #3553
- Baggage-DormitoryDormitoryA dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
"Transition Car" #3478 - Hi-Level "Chair car" / Coach (68 Seats) #549
- Hi-Level "Chair car" / Coach (72 Seats) #731
- Hi-Level Diner (80 seats) #654
- Hi-Level LoungeLounge carA lounge car is a type of passenger car on a train, where riders can purchase food and drinks. The car may feature large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options...
(88 seats) #575 - Hi-Level "Chair car" / Coach (72 Seats) #725
- Hi-Level "Chair car" / Coach (68 Seats) #542
- SleeperSleeping carThe sleeping car or sleeper is a railway/railroad passenger car that can accommodate all its passengers in beds of one kind or another, primarily for the purpose of making nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured...
Pine Cove (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms) - Sleeper Indian Mesa (11 double bedrooms)
- "Turquoise Room"-"Pleasure DomeDome carA dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...
"-Lounge #504 - Fred Harvey CompanyFred Harvey CompanyThe origin of the Fred Harvey Company can be traced to the 1875 opening of two railroad eating houses located at Wallace, Kansas and Hugo, Colorado on the Kansas Pacific Railway. These cafés were opened by Fred Harvey, then a freight agent for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad...
DinerDining carA dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
(48 seats) #600 - Sleeper Indian Flute (11 double bedrooms)
- Sleeper Palm Leaf (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
The "Hollywood mystique"
The world-famous Super Chief was an almost-instant success among travelers who appreciated its modern, air conditioned equipment, high amenity levels, and smooth ride, all of which lent the train a certain "snob appeal." The train was staffed with top-of-the-line crews who were ingrained with the best traditions of the railroad, and not only drew passengers from competing railroads but from other Santa Fe trains such as the Chief as well. Patrons took pleasure in the ability to "...Travel Santa Fe — all the way" to their destinations without the need to change trains, or at least railroads, en route.The Super Chief quickly became "the" train to ride between Chicago and Los Angeles, much as New York Central's 20th Century Limited
20th Century Limited
The 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad from 1902 to 1967, during which time it would become known as a "National Institution" and the "Most Famous Train in the World". In the year of its last run, The New York Times said that it "...was...
was the favored travel option of the time for the East Coast-bound. To acquaint passengers with the various points-of-interest located along the route, Santa Fe constructed a series of seven signs marking such notable features as the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
and Raton Pass
Raton Pass
Raton Pass is a mountain pass on the Santa Fe Trail along the Colorado-New Mexico border in the United States. Raton Pass is a federally designated National Historic Landmark...
.
In the mid-1940s, company president Fred G. Gurley went to great lengths to solicit business from California's motion picture industry. To that end, a passenger agent was located in Hollywood specifically for the purpose of maintaining close contact with the movie studios. Furthermore, the train stopped at the Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
station solely for the purpose of allowing celebrities the opportunity to board or disembark away from the "hustle and bustle" of Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT). When the Santa Fe was notified that a particular celebrity was going to be traveling on board the Super Chief, a press release was issued to allow the media the opportunity to interview and photograph the star.
In time, the passenger list would resemble a veritable "who's who" of Hollywood stars: Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
and Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
and Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
, Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor and television producer. While he gained international renown for leading a Latin music band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, he is probably best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo on the American TV series I Love Lucy, starring with Lucille Ball, to...
and Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
(to name but a few) all rode the Super Chief. The train's appeal was not limited to those in the entertainment industry, though, as it also played host to Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, former presidents Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
and Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, and their wives.
Three for Bedroom "C"
In June, 1952, Warner Bros. PicturesWarner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released Three for Bedroom "C", a romantic comedy starring Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
, James Warren
James Warren (actor)
James Warren was an American film actor and artist.-Early life:Born James Pringle Wittlig in Marietta, Ohio, he was the son of Walter Wittlig, a watchmaker, and Florence Ione Pringle. He had two brothers, the oldest Laurence Pringle Wittlig and a younger brother, David Pringle Wittlig...
, Fred Clark
Fred Clark
Frederick Leonard Clark was an American film character actor.-Career:Born in Lincoln, California, Clark made his film debut in 1947 in The Unsuspected. His 20-year film career included almost 70 films, and numerous television appearances...
, Hans Conried
Hans Conried
Hans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...
, and Steve Brodie
Steve Brodie (actor)
Steve Brodie was an American movie and television actor.Born John Stevenson in El Dorado, Kansas, he took his screen name from the Steve Brodie who claimed that he jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886 and survived...
. In the film, an aging movie star (Swanson) hides out in a compartment during a cross-country journey from New York to Los Angeles aboard the Super Chief.
Swanson's first color film also bears the distinction of being one of very few to be shot entirely aboard actual railroad equipment. Santa Fe transported actual passenger cars from the Super Chief to the production company's studio lot for filming. The film met with lukewarm reviews and was not, as had been hoped, a financial success. It did, however, nicely showcase the many features of the Super Chief, which many train buffs feel is the real star of the motion picture.
Honeymoon and Murder on the Super Chief
Is a short story by Woodrow W. Walker, in which former movie stuntman turned private detective Buck Ames marries his stuntwoman girlfriend Helen Davis. They board the Super Chief for their honeymoon and find a murder.Super
Jim Lehrer's novel Super (2010), a mysteryMystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
deliberately reminiscent of Agatha Christie's
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of...
, tells the story of a Santa Fe Railroad Police
BNSF Police Department
The BNSF Police Department is the law enforcement agency of the BNSF Railway. Its headquarters is situated in Fort Worth, Texas.-Jurisdiction:...
detective who must try to solve two unrelated murders on the Super Chief, one on the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, the second on the return trip, while simultaneously dealing with the foibles of a number of celebrities riding the train on those trips, including Former President Harry S Truman and movie star Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
.
Dining aboard the Super Chief
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
. By the mid-1880s, dedicated dining car
Dining car
A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....
s were a normal part of all long-distance train consists departing from Chicago for points west, save for those of the Santa Fe, who relied on America's first interstate network of restaurants to feed its passengers en route. The legendary "Harvey House
Harvey House
Harvey House may refer to:*One of many hotels of the Fred Harvey Company in the U.S. west, which include :*La Posada Hotel and Gardens, in Winslow, Arizona, a contributing property in NRHP-listed La Posada Historic District, in Navajo County...
s," located strategically along the line, served top-quality meals to railroad patrons during water stops and other planned layovers and were favored over in-transit facilities for all trains operating west of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
.
The Super Chief included dining cars, staffed by Fred Harvey Company personnel, as part of its standard consist from the outset. In general, the Super Chief operated 36-seat dining cars, although most of them were convertible to 48-seat dining cars with a flip-top (or change of) table and addition of chairs. Dining cars almost always operated with a lounge car coupled to them for bar-lounge service and a waiting area when the dining car was full. Unlike the Union Pacific "City" trains, the Super Chief and other Santa Fe trains did not use the "twin-unit" dining cars. Santa Fe, in general, ran somewhat shorter trains that could be serviced with a single dining car (although the heavyweight trains frequently operated in several sections, the streamlined trains generally did not). The height of Super Chief lounge and dining facilities came in 1951 with the new 600-series Dining Cars bracketed by the 500 series Pleasure Domes in front and a bar-lounge-dormitory unit in back (moved from the front of the trains). The train still operated with the Vista-series 4 Drawing Room, 1 double bedroom observation cars on the rear, albeit without any bar or buffet service.
The bar-lounge cars next to the diner always included dormitory space for the train crew (a staff of 3-4 cooks and 6-7 stewards) required for the two-night and one day trip. The eight Pullmans on the train had a capacity of between 150 and 200 passengers when full but often ran with single occupancy rooms, making the passenger load less.
When Santa Fe rolled out its new "Pleasure Dome
Dome car
A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...
"-Lounge cars in 1951, the railroad introduced the traveling public to the Turquoise Room, promoted as "The only private dining room in the world on rails." The room accommodated 12 guests, and could be reserved anytime for private dinner or cocktail parties, or other special functions. The room was often used by celebrities and dignitaries traveling on the Super Chief. As was the case on other railroads, dining car service proved to be a losing proposition financially. Santa Fe, more than any of its competitors, took the concept of using onboard meal service as a "loss leader" to the highest level to attract and retain customers. Consequently, the name Super Chief became synonymous with the finest fare available on wheels.
Menu
À la carte
À la carte is a French language loan phrase meaning "according to the menu", and used in* A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants * To order an item from the menu on its own, e.g...
, while dinner could be ordered either à la carte or table d'hôte
Table d'hôte
Table d'hôte is a French loan phrase which literally means "host's table". It is used as restaurant terminology to indicate a menu where multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged, at a fixed total price. Such a menu may also be called prix fixe . The terms "set meal" and "set menu"...
.
The elaborate dinner offerings generally included caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
and other delicacies, cold salads, grilled and sauteéd fish, sirloin steaks and filet mignon, lamb chops, and the like. For discerning palates, elegant champagne dinners were an option. Ironically, one of the Super Chief
Mimbreño china
The decor, linens, and other dining car accoutrements reflected the same Southwestern flair that was prevalent throughout the rest of the train. Mary ColterMary Colter
Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was an American architect and designer. As a child, Mary Colter traveled with her family through frontier Minnesota, Colorado and Texas in the years after the American Civil War. After her father died in 1886, Colter attended the California School of Design in San...
(architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, Indian art expert, and 35-year veteran of the Fred Harvey Company) designed the china and silverware used on the Super Chief. Colter, who also designed the interiors of Fred Harvey’s opulent La Fonda, La Posada, and El Tovar hotels, based her dinnerware motif on the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
pictographs of animals and geometric patterns left behind on clay pots
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
by the ancient inhabitants of the Rio Mimbres Valley in southwestern New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, around 1100 A.D.
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
.
The "Mimbreño" pattern was produced between 1936 and 1970 by the Onondaga Pottery Co. of Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
under its better-known trade name, Syracuse China. The bottoms carried the inscription "Made expressly for Santa Fe Dining Car Service." These distinctive pieces made their debut on the dining car Cochiti in 1937. Used on the Super Chief and other named trains until the end of Santa Fe passenger service in 1971, original Mimbreño dinnerware can still be found today in service on BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
business cars.
Mimbreño has been dubbed "the oldest of all railroad china" as its design concept dates back nearly ten centuries. Demand for surviving original pieces has created a substantial collector's market, and led to the issuance of authorized reproductions in recent years.
See also
- Amtrak Southwest ChiefSouthwest ChiefThe Southwest Chief is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2256-mile BNSF route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California...
- Passenger train service on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
External links
- California State Railway Museum official website.
- Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society official website.
- Amtrak Coaches head North: NERAIL New England photo Archive — two former Santa Fe "Hi-Level" transition coaches in Amtrak livery, photographed traveling north through Bedford, New HampshireBedford, New Hampshire-Demographics:As of the Census of 2000, there were 18,274 people, 6,251 households, and 5,125 families residing in the town. The population density was 556.6 people per square mile . There were 6,401 housing units at an average density of 195.0 per square mile...
in April, 2003. - Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway No. 1344 — photographs and short history of a Super Chief Dormitory-Lounge Car built in 1950.
- Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway No. 1471 Cochiti — photographs and short history of a Super Chief Dining Car built in 1936.
- Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak
- "Santa Fe Super Chief: Fastest Thing on Wheels from Chicago to Los Angeles" article from the April 18, 1938 issue of Life Magazine.
- "Who Killed the Super Chief?" article at the Arizona Rail Passenger Association official website.
- All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains 1999 USPS Stamp Program.
