Sante Fe Super Chief - anyone taken it back in the day?

I love the "Chief". She boast some of the most luxurious accommodations ever devised for a passenger train. Many videos exist showing the train in its original form. The ABBA units were spectacular and performed so well under even the most arduous conditions. Nothing has ever crossed this country by rail that is as beautiful and gracious as the Super Chief.

Turquoise Room...

The program airs again early, 12/23, TUESDAY morning on RFD TV.  Check the link below for details: 

https://ogrforum.com/t...17#39159636266793617

Terrific photos The Train Yard and Mill City.

Thanks for posting.

Hard to imagine almost 40 hours on a train, let alone an all Pullman high speed one hitting over 100 mph according to one of the former passengers.

I have never had the opportunity to ride Chief, Super Chief, El Capitan or any of Santa Fe's passenger trains from the glory years.  However, like thousands of others, I have ALWAYS been enamored with the War Bonnet paint scheme.  As a kid I lived less than 1/2 block north of the Santa Fe main line out of Chicago.  From my bedroom window I had a clear view of the tracks and I never got tired of watching the Santa Fe in action.  If I could turn back the clock 50 years the first thing I would do is buy a couple of round-trip tickets (Chicago to LA) on the Super Chief and El Capitan and take those rides.

Then I would spend a few weeks taking digital stills and movies of those magnificant creatures from every angle.   Of course I would post them on this forum for every to enjoy.

Merry Christmas. 

Didn't ride the Super Chief as such, but did ride on a chartered Santa Fe train with my folks going to the American Legion convention in California.

Rusty

I rode the Santa Fe one time with my Mom from Chicago to Oklahoma City. I believe the Trains name was the "Texas Chief". It was like no other passenger train I'd ever seen, exceptionally beautiful. I remember the conductors and porters being exceptionally polite, and mom would say listen to this man or that man, as they all used the Sir's and Mam's when speaking to the passengers, as well as among their selves. I remember asking the Conductor how fast we were going, he told me about where we were located in Illinois, and the train has been rolling along at an even 100 miles per hour for the last so many miles.

When I saw this train running in the Sears-Roebuck Christmas display window in downtown Louisville, Ky as a little boy, I loved this passenger train. I remember it having AA Warbonnetts, and about 4-5 streamlined cars. Boy, this post brings back at lot of memories from the past gone days.

I guess if it weren't for memories, and some experiences, we wouldn't have much to post on this great forum, cause everybody's got a story!.............................Brandy!

Several years ago our club did the first setup at a nursing home here and an elderly lady (pointing to the warbonnett) said to my wife "That's the Santa Fe Super Chief. I rode that one as a girl to California"

I rode the Texas Chief out of Chicago (1959 I think) going to College in Oklahoma (got off in Ponca City, OK). I had a roomette, and the service was spectacular. I returned to EMD January 2, 1967, after being drafted in the Army, and was sent to the Santa Fe on a special assignment for the Engineering Dept., working on the SD45 units. I made many a trip "deadheading" on the Chief, and the Super Chief/El Capitan, out in the west Texas area.

Yes, 100 MPH was NOT uncommon! 

It's a lot easier than spending 8 hours on an airliner.

Rusty

If you want to take a ride on the Super Chief, this is a fun read.

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I did ride the Super Chief once, from Los Angeles to Chicago and then took the GTW to Lansing, MI.  I did not eat in the Turquoise Room, but enjoyed the trip, and it was noticeably de luxe.  The extra fare actually did get you an extra fine train trip. Usually, I rode the Grand Canyon, but, once did take Number 18.

As those of you who know me might expect, I rode the Santa Fe many, many times.  The only Santa Fe passenger trains of the '60's I missed were the Clovis to Carlsbad doodlebug, the Kansas Cityan/Chicagoan and the Texas Chief, although I did make a trip from Houston to Bellville as Fireman on the Texas Chief when I borrowed out to Galveston.

The Super Chief was just what it was advertised to be -- super.  Even UPRR's City of Los Angeles, fine train that it was, did not have equal elegance.

The only time I ever rode aboard a Santa Fe passenger car -- whether heavyweight or stainless steel lightweight -- that was even slightly frayed or shabby was the pair of Budd RDC's on the El Pasoan, which were obviously having maintenance stretched in the hope that the train could be discontinued.  Since there would be no further use for the Budd cars, they were not given their expensive periodic overhaul just so they could have been retired in glamorous condition.  Even at that, I rode some other railroads' streamlined chair cars that made the Santa Fe RDC's look good by comparison.

I'll leave Amtrak out of this, as this thread is about excellence and the Super Chief.