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The Southwest Chief (formerly the Southwest Limited and Super Chief) is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2,265-mile (3,645 km) route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff mostly on the BNSF's Southern Transcon, but branches off between Albuquerque and Kansas City via the Topeka, La Junta, Raton, and ...
Though I can't always choose my seat, I do my best to avoid noisy spots by the car doors. I've been on over 25 long-haul train rides since I started working as a travel writer in 2015.
Amtrak revived the Chief for three months in the summer of 1972 as a second daily Chicago–Los Angeles train (numbers 19 & 20). It complemented the combined Super Chief/El Capitan (numbers 3 & 4), running over the same route. Today, the Southwest Chief remains the only train serving the former route of the Chief.
The Superliner Sightseer Lounge aboard the Southwest Chief. Amtrak operates two types of long-distance trains: single-level and bi-level. Due to height restrictions on the Northeast Corridor, all six routes that terminate at New York Penn Station operate as single-level trains with Amfleet coaches and Viewliner sleeping cars.
The management of the Santa Fe, impressed by the design, permitted Amtrak to restore the name Chief to the train, and Amtrak renamed it the Southwest Chief on October 28, 1984. [25] The Chief was the first train to receive Superliner II sleeping cars in September 1993. [26] The Coast Starlight began operating with Superliners in January 1981. [27]
This would have enabled Amtrak to replace its remaining Heritage Fleet equipment and run trains with solid Viewliner consists. [2] Ultimately, Amtrak awarded a contract for 50 sleeping cars with an option for 227 cars of various types to Morrison-Knudsen, who were also building the new California Cars based on the Superliner design.
The Santa Fe introduced the El Capitan in 1938. The train ran on the Santa Fe's main line between Chicago and Los Angeles. Unusually for streamliners of the period, the El Capitan carried coaches only, and had no sleeping cars; this was meant to provide passengers with a lower-cost alternative to the sleeping car-equipped Super Chief, which served the same route.
On its formation Amtrak continued the combined Super Chief/El Capitan designation until April 29, 1973, when it dropped the El Capitan portion. [11] Today the route of the El Capitan is served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief. Many Amtrak trains used a combination of refurbished former Santa Fe Hi-Level cars with newer Superliner railcars until the ...