![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Super Chief | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() The Super Chief in March 1971 at Los Angeles | ||||||||
Overview | ||||||||
Service type | Inter-city rail | |||||||
Status | Discontinued | |||||||
Locale | Midwestern and Southwestern United States | |||||||
First service | May 18, 1937 | |||||||
Last service | May 19, 1974 | |||||||
Successor | Southwest Limited | |||||||
Former operator(s) | Santa Fe Amtrak (1971–1974) | |||||||
Route | ||||||||
Termini | Chicago Los Angeles | |||||||
Average journey time | 39 hrs 30 min | |||||||
Service frequency | Daily (after 1948) | |||||||
Train number(s) | 17 and 18 | |||||||
Line(s) used | Southern Transcon | |||||||
Technical | ||||||||
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | |||||||
|
The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" because it often carried celebrities between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.
The Super Chief (Nos. 17 and 18) was the first diesel-electric powered cross-country passenger train in America.[1] The train eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The extra-fare ($10) Super Chief left Dearborn Station in Chicago for its first trip on May 12, 1936. Before starting scheduled service in May 1937, the lightweight version of the Super Chief ran 2,227 miles (3,584 km) from Los Angeles over recently upgraded tracks in 36 hours and 49 minutes, averaging 60 mph (97 km/h) overall and reaching 100 mph (160 km/h).
With one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. After more passenger cars were delivered in 1938, the Super Chief ran twice weekly that year, and later (from 1948) trips were again increased, to offer daily service. Adding to the train's mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele.
Competitors to the Super Chief were the City of Los Angeles trains on the Chicago and North Western Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad, and (to a lesser extent) the Golden State on the Rock Island and Southern Pacific lines. The Santa Fe Super Chief was one of the last passenger trains in the United States to carry an all-Pullman consist; only the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited and the Illinois Central's Panama Limited outlasted it. The Super Chief maintained its high level of service until Santa Fe ceased all passenger operations on May 1, 1971.
When Amtrak took over operation of the nation's passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, it retained the Super Chief. In 1974 due to a publicly-perceived decline in quality of passenger service, the Santa Fe Railway withdrew permission to use the "Chief" trade name, so Amtrak renamed the train The Southwest Limited. In 1984 after new Superliner equipment had replaced the aging original rolling stock, Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to rename its train to the Southwest Chief.[1]