Santa Fe publicity promoted the Turquoise Room as “the only private dining room on rails.” After 1954, when Union Pacific included a private dining room in the dome-diners of the City of Los Angeles and City of Portland, this changed … Continue reading
Category Archives: Santa Fe
This photo of Pleasure Dome 501 was taken on January 29, 1951, the day the Pleasure Domes were first introduced to regular service on the Super Chief. Click image for a larger view. With the delivery of new Pullman-built sleepers … Continue reading
From 1948 through 1954, the Santa Fe offered an incredible five daily trains between Chicago and Los Angeles, compared with just two each on the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific routes. The Super Chief and El Capitan, of course, were … Continue reading
Some railroads published along-the-way guides for each major route. This massive, 44-page brochure is meant to work for any and all Santa Fe passenger trains. This edition dates from 1945, but the brochure was republished many times over the years. … Continue reading
In April, 1948, the Santa Fe introduced the Texas Chief, which connected Chicago with Houston and Galveston via Ft. Worth. Passengers to Dallas had to take a bus from Ft. Worth. The train took 25 hours to get from Chicago … Continue reading
Out of the 120,000 or so steam locomotives built and used in the United States, only about 220 were streamlined–or, as the Chicago & North Western called it, steamlined–for passenger service. Railroads went to the trouble to streamline steam locomotives … Continue reading
A consulting firm named Coverdale and Colpitts (now part of URS) once did a variety of economic analyses for the rail industry. In 1935, the firm published a report on the Burlington Zephyrs, followed by reports in 1938, 1939, 1941, … Continue reading
While the Union Pacific and Burlington were certainly pioneers in the streamliner movement, other railroads introduced their own versions of streamlined trains. Some, such as Boston & Maine’s/Maine Central’s Flying Yankee, were imitations of the Zephyrs. Others, such as Illinois … Continue reading