Chicagoan (ATSF train)
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The Chicagoan at Wichita in 1967 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| First service | April 10, 1938 |
| Last service | April 18, 1968[1] |
| Former operator(s) | Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway |
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The Chicagoan and Kansas Cityan were a pair of American named passenger trains operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. They ran from Chicago, Illinois to Wichita, Kansas, with a later extension to Oklahoma City.
History
On April 17, 1938, the Santa Fe introduced a pair of day trains using lightweight, streamlined cars from the Budd Company.[2] These two, seven-car, lightweight, streamlined trains operated the 663-mile (1,067 km) route in 12 3/4 hours between end points. Shortly after entering service the train's western terminal would be moved to Oklahoma City, extending running times by three hours.
The inaugural runs of the two lightweight streamliners were operated with Electro-Motive Corporation E1A units numbered 8 and 9, but within a month the Santa Fe assigned 1 and 10 the numbers of the old Santa Fe Box Cab Diesel Passenger units 1A and 1B. After being rebuilt in the Santa Fe's Topeka Shops with an elevated cab at one end only and a new nose added at that same end, they really resembled two E1A units that had been involved in a head on collision, and the shops repainted the results in the Santa Fe "war bonnet" paint scheme. These became the regular power for the trains.
The Chicagoan and Kansas Cityan received new full-length "Big Dome" lounges in 1954.[3]
Train consists
At the train's inception, each of the two trainsets consisted of the following units:
- One EMC E1A 1,800 hp (1.3 MW) Diesel locomotive
- One Baggage 30-foot (9.1 m) or Railway Post Office car
- Three 52 seat coaches
- One 26 seat coach or 30-seat club lounge car
- One 48 seat dining car
- One 32 seat parlor observation
Notes
- ↑ Bartels, Michael (April 2008). "Great Plains Dispatcher" (PDF). Newsletter. Great Plains Transportation Museum and the Wichita Chapter National Railway Historical Society. p. 4. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
- ↑ Reed 1975, p. 109
- ↑ Wayner 1972, p. 196
References
- Reed, Robert C. (1975). The Streamline Era. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-053-3. OCLC 1339849.
- Wayner, Robert J., ed. (1972). Car Names, Numbers and Consists. New York: Wayner Publications. OCLC 8848690.
Further reading
- The Streamlined Passenger Trains of the United States and Canada by Alan L. Pettet
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