Chief (train)

The Chief was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Its route ran from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. From 1948 to 1968, the Chief provided a connection at Chicago to LA (and vice versa) with Pennsylvania Railroad overnight 15 hours, 6pm to 9am, New York and Philadelphia to Chicago, all Pullman sleeper to 1967, Broadway Limited and the , New York Central, to 1967, 20th Century Limited / New England States from NY/Boston. The Chief left Chicago at 1.30pm from 1948 and at 10am from 1954 on an accelerated 37hr service with connecting sleepers from the 2Oth Limited and Broadway Limited (carried on the evening Super Chief in 1954-58 as 1hr between 2OC arrival and Chief departure was too tight for car transfer) for Los Angeles and also Kansas City, Denver and Phoenix. Reaching Los Angeles before midnight the following day, the Chief was the only US train offering one night transit Chicago-Los Angeles westbound, from 1954 and indeed two night, transcontinental travel from NY to Los Angeles. The Chief was inaugurated as an all-Pullman limited train to supplement the road's California Limited, with a surcharge of USD $10.00 for an end-to-end trip. The heavyweight began its first run from both ends of the line, simultaneously, on November 14, 1926, scheduled 63 hours each way between Chicago and Los Angeles, five hours faster than the California Limited. (The Overland Limited (Union Pacific), Los Angeles Limited (Union Pacific) and Golden State Limited (Rock Island Railroad and Southern Pacific) began their extra-fare 63-hour schedules between Chicago and California the same day.)

The Chief in 1929 at the Dodge City, Kansas depot
A map depicting the "Grand Canyon Route" of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway circa 1901.

The Chief was a success, dubbed "Extra Fast-Extra Fine-Extra Fare" though it failed to relieve traffic on the California Limited. The Chief became famous as a "rolling boudoir" for film stars and Hollywood executives. In combination with the 2OC Limited, the Chief was a favoured mode of transcontinental travel for 'Hollywood' [1] The stars and executives generally remained in their private room cars. Most of the Chiefs patrons were middle class tourists or businessmen. [2] In 1954 the Chief improved its schedule to 37 hours, equal to its cousins the Super Chief and El Capitan, and would ultimately drop the extra fare requirement as well. It was not needed to designate, the cost and quality dining, drinking and sleeping car comfort Chief offered at substantial price and, in a different bracket from later Amtrak trains. The Chief leaving Chicago in the morning ran to Los Angeles through, 2 days and 1 night [3]the Super Chief passed, Kansas, Missouri and the Telacaphi Pass at night, leaving Chicago in the evening running through two nights with largely only La Junta-Ralton Pass, Colorado section in daylight, to arrive in Los Angeles in the morning. The last 60 miles run through Los Angeles suburbs, was slow and on the Chief arriving at night or the Super Chief, many passengers concluded the trip, unnoticed at San Bernardino, or Pasadena.

The Chief would have been the "crown jewel" of most railroads' passenger fleets. But it did not survive the national decline in passenger demand, due to the safer faster transport provided by the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 which overcame airline's previous inferior eight hour Los Angeles-Chicago flights on propeller DC6 and Constellations at 300mph, only 3 mile high with a turbulent and dangerous crossing of the Grand Canyon. Ironically fear of the Grand Canyon, kept many stars on the Chief in the 1950s and early 1960s. However the impact of jet aircraft; the exorbitant cost of train crew, who operated under old union rules of a day's pay for each 150 miles travelled (the Chief travelled 450 miles each 8hrs) and loss in 1967 of most US rail companies contract for first class mail US Postal Department created a crisis for all US Railways, Santa Fe, recommended all but its Super Chief, SF Chief, Texas Chief and San Diegans be discontinued. In particular, Santa Fe informed the ICC it could not afford to run four daily Chicago-California services. To Santa Fe shock the Interstate Commerce Commission ruled the all stops, common carrier Grand Canyon be continued rather than the Chief, which made its last run was on May 15, 1968. The Grand Canyon was somewhat upgraded leaving Chicago at 9am on a 45hr run to LA. The San Francisco Chief was rescheduled into the Chief's 10am departure slot out of Chicago, running on the different Armillo route, but with Los Angeles connection and sleeping car transfer to the Grand Canyon at Barstow, offered 44 hour transit to Los Angeles, or 41.5 hours to a shuttle transfer from San Bernardino or Bakersfield l. [4]

History

Timeline
  • 1926: to supplement the California Limited Santa Fe inaugurates the all-Pullman, extra-fare Chief, running between Chicago and Los Angeles.
  • November 14, 1926: The Chief makes its first departure from both ends of the line simultaneously.
  • March 1928: Eastward schedule drops to 61-1/4 hours
  • June 1929: schedule both ways drops to 58 hours
  • 1937: The Santa Fe announces that the Chief will receive streamlined (lightweight) cars to replace the heavyweights and will run on a 50¾-hour schedule.
  • February 22, 1938: 10 new streamlined cars are placed into service.
  • 1942: Consist expands to 13 cars, and each averages 743 daily miles.
  • 1945: The train receives new cars and the schedule is reduced to 45 hours.
  • March 27, 1947: sleeping car service direct to San Diego starts.
  • Ca. 1953: The trains from Los Angeles met up in a timed connection at La Junta, Colorado with coach trains bound for Denver, with the reverse itinerary available.[5]
  • January 10, 1954: The 45-hour schedule is cut to 39 hours, 45 minutes eastbound and 39 hours, 30 minutes westbound, with a morning departure from Chicago. The westbound train spends only one night in transit,[6] leaving Chicago in the morning and arriving in Los Angeles late evening of the following day. The fare surcharge is dropped after the Union Pacific introduces its Challenger train.
  • January 1954: Santa Fe transfers transcontinental sleeping car service to the Super Chief.
  • 1954: Coaches are added to the Chief; observation cars are removed for the first time since the train's inauguration. The cars are blunt-ended at Pullman's Richmond, California facility and returned to service in the new San Francisco Chief's consists as Pullman lounges. Cafe observation cars are added to the coach train from La Junta to Denver. Through sleeping cars are introduced for the branch from La Junta to Denver.[7]
  • September 5, 1956: A Santa Fe fireman from the waiting eastward Fast Mail Express throws a switch in front of the speeding Chief near Springer, New Mexico, causing it to enter the siding occupied by the Fast Mail Express and collide head-on. Both engine crews (save for the hapless Fast Mail fireman) are killed; a total of 20 train crew and Chief dining car employees are killed in the collision. Thirty-five passengers and crew members are injured. View additional info.
  • 1960: eastward Chief begins running via Topeka.
  • 1963-64: westward train does likewise.
  • May 15, 1968: The Chief ceases operations; Santa Fe will resurrect the name for a high-speed intermodal freight train.
  • Summer 1972: Amtrak revives the Chief for three months using Nos. 19 & 20 and the Chief's morning departure from Chicago.

Competing trains

In summer 1926 the fastest schedules between Chicago and San Francisco/Los Angeles were 68 hours. That November four extra-fare ($10) all-Pullman trains started running on 63-hour schedules: the Chief, the Los Angeles Limited via Salt Lake, the Golden State Limited via El Paso, and the Overland Limited to San Francisco. In 1928 the four eastward trains dropped to 61 hours 15 minutes to improve connections at Chicago. In June 1929 the Chief and Overland Limited schedules dropped to 58 hours each way, leaving Chicago at 11:15 AM/11:50 AM and Los Angeles/San Francisco at 9:45 PM/9:40 PM. The standard-fare schedule then became 63 hours westward and 61-1/4 eastward on seven routes from Chicago to the Coast (trains to Seattle now matching the standard-fare California trains). The Los Angeles Limited and Golden State Limited retained their 1928 schedules and so dropped their extra fares.

In 1931 the Overland Limited dropped its extra fare and combined with the 63-hour train on its route; the Chief was the only extra fare trans-continental train thereafter, until the streamliners. In February 1936 it was scheduled 53 hours 45 minutes to Los Angeles, compared to 61 hours for the Los Angeles Limited, Golden State Ltd, and California Ltd.

In May 1936 Union Pacific opened high speed Chicago - Los Angeles service with its City of Los Angeles Diesel streamliner. In December 1937 the original City of Los Angeles train was replaced by a full-sized 14 car train. The schedule was doubled to 10 times monthly in July 1938.

In 1954, for a continuous East Coast to Los Angeles trip (and the reverse), on the New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad or Baltimore and Ohio trains this opportunity was shifted from the Chief to the SF's Super Chief.[8][9]

Equipment used
Locomotive #3460, the Blue Goose, which was the streamlined steam locomotive for the Chief

A typical heavyweight Chief consist in Winter, 1937:

A typical "mixed" Chief consist as of January 31, 1938 (the Chief regularly included heavyweight head-end cars in its consist, even into the late 1940s):

  • 4-6-4 "Hudson"-type Steam Locomotive #3460 (also known as the "Blue Goose")
  • Railway Post Office #79 (heavyweight)
  • Baggage #1894 (heavyweight)
  • Baggage-Buffet-Lounge #1380 San Miguel (also included a barber shop)
  • Sleeper Otowi (17 roomettes)
  • Sleeper Ganado (14 sections)
  • Sleeper Toreva (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Mankoweap (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 Dbl. Bdrm.)
  • Dormitory-Club-Lounge #1373 Tesuque
  • Fred Harvey Company Diner #1477
  • Sleeper Mohave (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Sinyala (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper-Observation-Lounge Betahtakin (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)

Transcontinental Sleeping Car Service was inaugurated in Spring 1946, and the Chief began regularly carrying three such cars in its consist: two originating in New York City, and the other in Washington, DC (most often these were smooth-sided cars painted two-tone Pullman grey). By the following summer, the Chief had retired all of its steam-driven motive power and was usually pulled behind A-B-B-A sets of EMD FT locomotives or A-B-A sets of the new ALCO PAs).

The following is a typical all-lightweight Chief consist as of late 1947:

  • ALCO PA Locomotive #53L
  • ALCO PB Locomotive #53A
  • ALCO PA Locomotive #53B
  • Baggage #3452
  • Railway Post Office #88
  • Baggage #3438
  • Baggage-Buffet-Lounge #1381 San Marcial (also included a barber shop)
  • Sleeper Maito (17 roomettes)
  • Sleeper Verde Valley (6 sections, 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Imperial Park (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Tapacipa (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
  • Dormitory-Club-Lounge #1372 Picuris
  • Fred Harvey Company Diner #1497
  • Sleeper Kayenta (4 compartments, 2 drawing rooms, 4 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Sinyala (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Tolani (8 sections, 2 compartments, 2 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper-Observation-Lounge Biltabito (4 drawing rooms, 1 double bedroom)

A typical Chief consist in the mid-1950s (note the absence of an observation car, which was eliminated as per Santa Fe policy):

  • EMD F7A Locomotive #46C
  • EMD F7B Locomotive #46B
  • EMD F3B Locomotive #19B
  • EMD F7B Locomotive #301A
  • EMD F7A Locomotive #301L
  • Baggage #3657
  • Baggage #3442
  • Baggage-Dormitory #1381
  • "Chair" car / Coach (44 "leg-rest" seats) #2938
  • "Chair" car / Coach (44 "leg-rest" seats) #2883
  • "Chair" car / Coach (44 "leg-rest" seats) #2909
  • Lunch Counter-Diner #1568
  • "Chair" car / Coach (44 "leg-rest" seats) #2848
  • "Chair" car / Coach (44 "leg-rest" seats) #2831
  • "Big Dome"-Lounge #509
  • Fred Harvey Company Diner #1491
  • Sleeper Blue Island (10 roomettes, 2 compartments, 3 double bedrooms)*
  • Sleeper Pine Dale (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Palm Star (10 roomettes, 6 double bedrooms)
  • Sleeper Citrus Valley (6 sections, 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms) (ran from Chicago, Illinois — Denver, Colorado; switched out at La Junta, Colorado).
  • Sleeper Estancia Valley (6 sections, 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms) (ran from Denver, Colorado — Los Angeles, California; switched in at La Junta, Colorado).
*NOTE: The nineteen "10-2-3" sleepers in the Blue series had a floorplan configuration unique to the Santa Fe.

See also

References
  1. F.Donovan jnr.Los Angeles on the Chief, in 'Pullman America's Hotel on Wheels'. Classic Trains, Special 27, 2020 (first published, Trains 11/1948) Klambach Media. Waukesha, Wi, p 66.
  2. F.Donovan.'LA on the Chief' in Pullman Hotel on Wheels. Classic Trains (2O20)(Special ed) p66-71 & 96-106
  3. Condensed Schedule Passenger Services, Santa Fe Railway, Feb 16 1968, p. 1-4
  4. Santa Fe Railway. Condensed Schedule Passenger Services. 18 June 1969, p. 2.
  5. Santa Fe timetable, January 1, 1953, Table 3 http://streamlinermemories.info/SF/SF53TTocr.pdf
  6. Frailey (1998), p. 56
  7. "Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Tables O, 3". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 87 (7). December 1954.
  8. "Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Table A". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 87 (7). December 1954.
  9. 'Santa Fe Transcontinental Passenger Service' http://old.atsfrr.org/resources/Sandifer/TransconPass/Index.htm
  • Duke, Donald and Stan Kistler (1963). Santa Fe...Steel Rails through California. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA.
  • Duke, Donald (1997). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume Two. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0-87095-110-6.
  • Frailey, Fred W. (1998). Twilight of the Great Trains. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0 89024 178 3.
  • Frailey, Fred W. (1974). A Quarter Century of Santa Fe Consists. RPC Publications, Godfrey, IL.
  • 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. New York: Wayner Publications. OCLC 8848690.
  • Zimmermann, Karl R. (1987). Santa Fe Streamliners: The Chiefs and their Tribesmen. New York: Quadrant Press. ISBN 0915276410. OCLC 19005401.
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