The Santa Fe was possibly the most famous railroad in America and definitely one of the most successful. Freight and passengers traveled on the Santa Fe rails from the 1860s until 1995, when AT&SF merged with Burlington Northern to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.
The Santa Fe became one of the strongest rail carriers in North America, serving as a distribution system for imports, exports, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods produced in the United States. For all its successes as a freight carrier, the Santa Fe was best remembered for its fleet of elegant passenger trains, several of which ran until 1971. The railroad’s first passenger train was the 1892 opening of the California Limited, which was the main train on the highway’s Chicago-Los Angeles route. This was followed by the 1911 debut of the De Luxe additional fare between Chicago and Los Angeles, then on November 14, 1926, a legend was born, the Chief, another Chicago-Los Angeles additional fare train. All three lines were pulled by steam locomotives.
Santa Fe was intrigued by the prospect of dieselization and thought diesel-electric power was a good way to cut costs at its desert operations, where water for steam locomotives was in short supply. On May 12, 1936, the railroad introduced the Super Chief, a sleeping car, yet another entry into the Chicago-Los Angeles market, and the first non-steam powered one, being pulled by a pair of Electro-built diesel locomotives. -Motive Corporation (EMC), owned by General Motors. The EMC Santa Fe boxcars, popularly known as The Twins, are generally considered the first commercially built high-speed passenger diesels. Powered by a diesel engine, the train was able to make the 2,000-mile journey in just 39 hours and 45 minutes, 15 hours faster than the best steam-powered journey.
A year later, in May 1937, the Super Chief received all new equipment, emerging as Santa Fe’s first lightweight streamlined. Its new streamlined EMC diesels debuted with what was destined to become one of world’s most famous railway, the red, silver, black and yellow “war bonnet”. This schematic was designed by EMC designer Leland A. Knickerbocker, and was specifically intended for the sleek, streamlined E1 locomotive. It was applied to many other locomotives over the years and remains one of the most recognizable railway paint schemes. For the next 40 years or more, these colors would appear on all locomotives regularly assigned to Santa Fe passenger trains.
In 1938, the streamlined, coach-only El Capitan was launched as the companion train to the Super Chief; the two ran only minutes apart, serving budget travelers who wanted a quick trip down the main line. Over the years, more Chiefs joined the fleet. 1948 saw the addition of the Texas Chief which ran on the Chicago-Fort Worth-Houston line, and the 1954 San Francisco Chief which ran on the Chicago-Kansas City-Amarillo-San Francisco line. During this period the Super Chief was upgraded and now sported new sleeping cars, dining cars and its famous Pleasure Dome Lounge.
The Pleasure Dome car featured an elegant lounge on its main level, while the dome section above contained a series of fully rotating individual seats for viewing. Unique to the Pleasure Dome because it was the Turquoise Room dining area below the dome section, which was a private dining room that could be reserved for groups and served from the adjacent diner’s kitchen.
Through consistent service and regular upgrades and innovations, the Santa Fe has earned a reputation for operating the best passenger trains in North America. This was a reputation held until Amtrak took over the operation of select Santa Fe passenger trains on May 1, 1971. Throughout history, the Santa Fe Super Chief was often cited as the best and most famous train of passengers in the world.
No Comment