Super Chief

The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Santa Fe railroad. Its was often referred to as "The Train of the Stars" because of the many celebrities who travelled on the streamliner between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California.

The streamlined Super Chief 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 made its maiden run from Dearborn Station in Chicago on May 18, 1937, and covered the 2,225 miles to Los Angeles over recently-upgraded tracks in just 39 hours and 45 minutes (often exceeding 100 miles-per-hour in the process).

With only one set of equipment, the train initially operated but once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. From that day forward the Super Chief set a new standard for luxury rail travel in America. At the height of its popularity, the trains of the Super Chief would make daily departures from both ends of the line.

Adding to the train's mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele. When Amtrak took over operation of the nation's passenger service on May 1, 1971, it thereby ended the 36-year run of the Super Chief. The spirit of the Super Chief is said to live on through Amtrak's Southwest Chief.

Equipment used

The first motive power set on Super Chief-1 consisted of a pair of blunt-nosed 1,800 h.p. diesel-electric units built by EMD and designated as Nos. 1 and 1-A. 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 EMD E1, a new and improved 3,600 h.p. streamlined diesel-electric (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 PAs, EMD F7s, and EMD FP45s) would make their appearances on the line in the succeeding years, all wearing the familiar "warbonnet" paint scheme first debuted on the Super Chief.

In 1937, the heavyweight equipment used on the Super Chief was replaced with all lightweight stainless steel cars built by the Budd Company. For the new lightweight train, the equipment used was as follows:

• Railway Post Office-Mail Storage car #3400
• Baggage-Mail car #3430
• Sleeper Isleta (8 sections, 1 drawing room, 2 compartments)
• Sleeper Laguna (8 sections, 1 drawing room, 2 compartments)
• Dormitory-Lounge #1370 Acoma (also included a barber shop)
• Diner #1474 Cochiti (36 seats) – now on permanent display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California
• Sleeper Oraibi (6 double bedrooms, 2 drawing rooms, 2 compartments)
• Sleeper Taos (6 double bedrooms, 2 drawing rooms, 2 compartments)
• Sleeper-Lounge-Observation Navajo (1 double bedroom, 2 drawing rooms, 3 compartments)

The five sleeping cars in the original consist were operated by Pullman but were owned by the Santa Fe. The car names were chosen to commemorate the Native American tribes, pueblos and cities found along the railroad's route.

In February 1938, the railroad added another trainset, also built by Budd, to handle the high demand for passage aboard the train. Its original consist was as follows:

• 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 car #1377 Agathla (also included a barber shop)
• 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 car Chaistla (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)

Timeline

• August 1935: General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) 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 car.
• May 12, 1936: The Santa Fe inaugurates the all-diesel powered Super Chief-1 amid much fanfare; Eleanor Powell, Hollywood's legendary dancer, christens it "The Train of the Stars."
• May 18, 1937: All heavyweight wood cars used on the Super Chief are replaced with lightweight stainless steel cars. The motive power is upgraded to an improved 3,600 h.p. two-unit streamlined diesel locomotive built by EMD, and the train is dubbed the Super Chief-2.
• February 22, 1938: A second all-lightweight trainset built by Pullman-Standard enters service.
• July 7, 1942: The Super Chief goes on a wartime schedule of 41 hours, 45 minutes.
• 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.
• January 25, 1948: Locomotive #19L, leading the Super Chief, loses braking ability while preparing to depart Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT). 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 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.
• 1950-1951: The Super Chief is re-equipped with new sleeping cars built by the Budd Company and the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF), and dining and dome-lounge cars from Pullman-Standard.
• 1951: The Super Chief is prominently featured in the Warner Bros. film Three for Bedroom C starring Gloria Swanson.
• January 10, 1954: The $15.00 extra-fare charge is reduced to $7.50; the barbershop, showerbath, round-end observation car, and coast-to-coast Pullman (which ran through to New York by way of The Broadway Limited and the 20th Century Limited) are all discontinued.
• January 12, 1957: The Super Chief and El Capitan are combined into one train during the off-peak travel season on a 39½-hour schedule.
• 1958: The entire five Super Chief trainsets are refurbished and redecorated.
• May 1 1971: Amtrak is formed and takes over operation of the nation's passenger service, thus ending 36 years of the Super Chief.

References

• Brasher, Larry E. (2005). "Crafting the Lightweight Super Chief." Streamliner Pioneers 20-28.
• Duke, Donald (1997). Santa Fe...The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume 2. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0-87095-110-6.
• Frailey, Fred W. (1974). A Quarter Century of Santa Fe Consists. RPC Publications, Godfrey, IL. .
• Luckin, Richard W., dir. (DVD) (2003). Super Chief: Speed-Style-Service. RK Publishing, Golden, CO. .
• Strein, Robert, et al (2001). Santa Fe: The Chief Way. New Mexico Magazine. ISBN 0-937206-71-7.
• Wayner, Robert J., ed. (1972). Car Names, Numbers and Consists. Wayner Publications, New York, NY. .
• Zimmerman, Karl (1987). Santa Fe Streamliners: The Chiefs and Their Tribesman. Quadrant Press, Inc., New York, NY. ISBN 0-915276-41-0.

See also

• Amtrak Southwest Chief
• ATSF California Limited
• ATSF Chief
• ATSF El Capitan
• ATSF Grand Canyon Limited
• ATSF San Diegan

External links

• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway
• California State Railway Museum
• Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society
• Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway No. 1344 — photos and short history of a Super Chief Dormitory-Lounge Car built in 1950.
• Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway No. 1471 Cochiti — photos and short history of a Super Chief Dining Car built in 1936.
• "Santa Fe Super Chief: Fastest Thing on Wheels from Chicago to Los Angeles" article from the April 18, 1938 issue of Life Magazine.
• Three for Bedroom C at the Internet Movie Database

See also: Super Chief, 1901, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1943