The Santa Fe El Capitan

[pajrr]

I have 2 questions about the Santa Fe El Capitan, which was the coach section of the Super Chief. When did the train dieselize? When was the train converted to Hi- Level cars? Thank you in advance

[artpeterson]

Hi - the first group of production hi-levels had a 1956 build date.  Later groups were built in 1963 and 1964.  Hope that helps, Art

[pajrr]

Thank you Art! That helps a lot! Now if anyone can tell me when the train dieselized I will be in good shape! Thanks again!

[daveklepper]

The El Capitan was innaugurated as a diesel coach streamliner prior to WWII, probably 1938 or 1939.   It may have run behind steam on occasions, as certainly the Hudsons east of La Junta and the Northerns west of La Junta could have kept the schedule, but it was innaugurated as diesel hauled.  I do not believe there was a heavyweight steam El Capitan, but I may be wrong.   It was not just the coach section of the Super Chief but was a separate train, including the bilevel days, until cutbacks began, and even then it ran as a separate train during peak periods of travel.

[Southwest Chief]

The El Capitan began service in 1938 as a twice weekly all coach streamlined train.  It was diesel powered from the beginning.  E1's were the earliest diesels to pull this train.

It was a separate train and not a coach section of the Super Chief.

In 1948 the El Capitan became a daily train.

In 1956 the Hi-Level El Captain began regular service.

In 1958 the Super Chief and El Capitan combined consists, however they were still treated as separate trains.  During heavy traffic periods the train consists would separate.

The combined Super Chief/El Capitan went on until Amtrak took over in 1971.  The train, consist, and some of the crew remained unchanged during the early years of Amtrak.  Amtrak dropped the El Capitan name and called the train; Super Chief.  A few years into operation, the Santa Fe railway did not approve of the low quality of service Amtrak offered on their Super Chief and took back the "Chief" name.  Thus Amtrak renamed the train Southwest Limited.  Amtrak was also running a version of the Texas Chief and had to rename this train; Lone Star.

In 1984-85 Amtrak relaunched the Southwest Limited as the Southwest Chief, with permission from the Santa Fe to once again use the Chief name.  Superliners and special amenities for the relaunch convinced Santa Fe that service was again at a tolerable standard to give permission to use the Chief name.  This train is still running as the Southwest Chief.

I model the El Capitan in HO scale for the year 1957.  Below is a photo of our version.  The real train normally was pulled by an ABBA lashup...we just didn't add the second B unit for this photo.  It also would normally have had 1-2 baggage cars, but they would not fit in this photo either:

[daveklepper]

All honor to you for your excellent model!>

[pajrr]

Hi Folks! Thanks for all the info! A friend of mine owns one of the lunchcounter cars from the El Capitan, (blt by Pullman in 1950) and has restored it for charter service here in the Northeast. If anyone wants info on it , private message me with your email address and I will send you photos. Thanks again!