The Super-Chief.
Illustration: PINTEREST
The Super-Chief.
Illustration: PINTEREST
The “Super-Chief”, in “War-Bonnet” livery, calls at
Pasadena, before heading into Los Angeles Union Station.
To the right of the Palm Trees, above the Locomotive,
we can see the seventh floor of “The Castle Green”.
The Moorish Colonial and Spanish Hotel was across
the street from Pasadena’s Santa Fe Railroad Station.
Pasadena was the “Gateway” to the
San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
Illustration: NEW YORK SOCIAL DIARY
The Super-Chief was one of the Named Passenger Trains and the Flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
It claimed to be “The Train of the Stars” because of the celebrities it carried between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.
The Super-Chief (Nos. 17 and 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 Super-Chief (Nos. 17 and 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 History Of The Super-Chief.
Available On YouTube
The extra-fare ($10) Super-Chief left Dearborn Station in Chicago for its first trip on 12 May 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 thirty-six hours and forty-nine minutes, averaging sixty mph (ninety-seven 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.
With one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles.
After more cars had been delivered, the Super-Chief ran twice-weekly, beginning in 1938, and daily after 1948.
Adding to the train’s mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele.
Competitors to the Super-Chief were the City of Los Angeles 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.
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 high level of service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on 1 May 1971.
The Super-Chief.
Available On YouTube
When Amtrak took over operation of the Nation’s passenger service on 1 May 1971, the thirty-five-year run of the Super-Chief on the Santa Fe Railroad ended, though Amtrak used the name on the same route for three years.
The design was the creation of artist Leland A. Knickerbocker, who worked for General Motors.
During the Mid-1930s, the company needed a classy, matching livery to the Native-American-themed Train that the Santa Fe was planning to debut.
Of course, you probably know the name of this Train, the “Super-Chief”, which went on to become just as famous as the paint it wore.
The “Warbonnet” was shelved by the Railroad following the end of passenger service in 1971, but was re-adopted in the Late-1980s.
Following the creation of Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 1995, a version of the livery was briefly used but was finally dropped altogether.
In 1974, the Santa Fe Railroad withdrew permission to use the name, due to a perceived decline in service, so Amtrak renamed it Southwest Limited.
Following the delivery of new Superliner equipment, the Santa Fe Railroad allowed Amtrak to call it the Southwest Chief in 1984.
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The following Text is from AMERICAN RAILS
Santa Fe’s “Warbonnet” Locomotives.
By: Adam Burns
While there were many, now-classic, paint schemes to grace Locomotives during the start of the Diesel and Streamliner age of the 1930s, none became as legendary as Santa Fe’s “Warbonnet’ (and most did not even receive a formal name).
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Postcard photo of the San Francisco Chief
in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Date: Circa 1950s.
The train was inaugurated in 1954
and had its last run in 1971.
Source: eBay item card front
Author: Fred Harvey
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from AMERICAN RAILS
Santa Fe’s “Warbonnet” Locomotives.
By: Adam Burns
While there were many, now-classic, paint schemes to grace Locomotives during the start of the Diesel and Streamliner age of the 1930s, none became as legendary as Santa Fe’s “Warbonnet’ (and most did not even receive a formal name).
The design was the creation of artist Leland A. Knickerbocker, who worked for General Motors.
During the Mid-1930s, the company needed a classy, matching livery to the Native-American-themed Train that the Santa Fe was planning to debut.
Of course, you probably know the name of this Train, the “Super-Chief”, which went on to become just as famous as the paint it wore.
The “Warbonnet” was shelved by the Railroad following the end of passenger service in 1971, but was re-adopted in the Late-1980s.
Following the creation of Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 1995, a version of the livery was briefly used but was finally dropped altogether.
In this eye-popping Electro-Motive photo, new Santa Fe F7’s show off their “Warbonnet” livery in May, 1950. Warren Calloway collection.
Illustration: AMERICAN RAILS
