Texas Chief (passenger train)

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The Texas Chief Santa Fe trains 15 & 16 were named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Its route ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Galveston, Texas. The Texas Chief was inaugurated as a coach and Pullman train in 1939.

The Texas Chief lasted through the Amtrak takeover in 1971. In 1974, Amtrak was forced by Santa Fe to rename the train due to declining standards that did not meet Santa Fe Chief standards. Amtrak renamed the train the Lone Star.

The train on the Santa Fe originally ran from Chicago to Galveston with a section cutting off near Denton, Texas, and heading to Dallas, Texas. During the 1970s, Amtrak ran a Fort Worth-Dallas connecting section as part of its Chicago-Houston train. The Amtrak version had major stops in Galesburg, Ill., Kansas City, Mo., Lawrence, Kan., Topeka, Kan., Newton, Kan., Wichita, Kan., Perry, Okla. (stop for Oklahoma State University in Stilwater, Okla.), Oklahoma City, Okla., Norman, Okla., Fort Worth, Texas, and Temple, Texas.

The train was important because it provided economical transportation for students attending the many colleges along its route. The institutions of higher learning included University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan., University of Missouri-Kansas City, Mo., Emporia State University, Emporia, Kan., Wichita State University, Wichita, Kan., Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla., Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla., Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, Baylor University, Waco, Texas (served through a stop at nearby Temple, Texas), as well as University of Texas-Houston.

Due to a budget cut ordered by the U.S. Department of Transportation (the "Carter bloodbath"), Amtrak's Lone Star - along with several other popular trains - was discontinued on October 9, 1979. At the time of its discontinuance, the train was ranked as Amtrak's 7th most popular long-distance train.

Of the original route, only a small section, running from Newton, Kan., to Oklahoma City, remains without passenger train service in 2007. The state of Oklahoma and Amtrak during the late 1990s initiated passenger train service from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth called the Heartland Flyer. The Heartland Flyer provides connecting service at Fort Worth to Amtrak's Texas Eagle. This provides service for trips to Chicago, Little Rock, Ark., Austin, Texas, San Antonio, Texas, El Paso, Texas, Tucson, Ariz., Phoenix, Ariz., and Los Angeles.