Provided by Stephanie Stout |
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Less than a year after the end of World War II, The Chief became one of several trains that offered transcontinental sleeping car service. Trains 19 and 20 conveyed a 4-4-2 from NYC's Twentieth Century Limited (trains 25 and 26), a 4-4-2 from PRR's Broadway Limited (trains 28 and 29), and a 6-6-4 from B&O's Capitol Limited (trains 5 and 6). Passengers had the choice of staying on their sleeper for the 3-4 hour transfer or taking a sightseeing tour of Chicago during the switching. The 4-4-2 sleepers were mostly Santa Fe stainless steel prewar Indian tribe/pueblo named sleepers, but some were two-tone gray cars from NYC and PRR. The 6-6-4's were mostly Santa Fe Valley series in two-tone gray. At the beginning of this service on March 1, 1946, The Chief was still pulled by steam but with frequent diesel substitutes. The warbonnet FT's were coming into service, and the sleepers still had large PULLMAN lettering with a small SANTA FE plate. The B&O never supplied any sleepers to the transcontinental pool. This line was always covered by Santa Fe-assigned or -owned cars. Originally they were "Valley"-series 6-6-4s, and later "Pine"- or "Palm"-series 10-6s Later in 1946, The Chief was dieselized, but a few 1947 photos still show steam on occasion. After the Pine series 10-6 sleepers were delivered in 1949, another Los Angeles-New York sleeping car line was added; this connected with the Twentieth Century Limited. These and the newly-delivered Regal series 4-4-2's had large SANTA FE and small PULLMAN lettering. The smooth-side Valley series were mostly shadowlined by this time and had large SANTA FE as well. Later, the 6-6-4's were replaced on the SF/B&O route by 10-6's. On January 10, 1954, all four transcontinental sleeping car lines were shifted to The Super Chief (trains 17 and 18), and The Chief started carrying chair cars and a lunch-counter diner. As far as which cars were used in transcontinental service, any Pine or Palm 10-6 and any Regal 4-4-2 could be used on The Super Chief. All four car lines remained in service in the Summer of 1957. When The Super Chief and El Capitan were consolidated on January 12, 1958, two of the last three lines were terminated. The last line was axed sometime in 1958-59. The question about NYC, PRR, or B&O cars showing up their colors is answered by saying that this happened only a few times a month. Santa Fe cars made up the majority of the pool, so a ban was not necessary. It would seem that a good many Santa Fe modelers choose to operate eastern sleepers on their Santa Fe flagships for the shear novelty of it. I have seen far more photos of foreign sleepers on Santa Fe's secondary trains. |
