Super Chief

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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
Route map v t e Legend 1937–1971 Chicago Joliet Streator Chillicothe Galesburg Illinois Iowa Fort Madison Shopton Iowa Missouri Kansas City Garden City Missouri Kansas Newton Hutchinson Dodge City Kansas Colorado Lamar La Junta Trinidad Colorado New Mexico Raton Las Vegas Lamy Albuquerque Gallup New Mexico Arizona Winslow Flagstaff Williams Junction after c. 1960 Seligman Kingman Arizona California Needles Barstow San Bernardino Pomona Pasadena Los Angeles

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]