Texas Chief

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Passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

title: "Texas Chief" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["former-amtrak-routes", "former-long-distance-amtrak-routes", "named-passenger-trains-of-the-united-states", "night-trains-of-the-united-states", "passenger-rail-transportation-in-illinois", "passenger-rail-transportation-in-missouri", "passenger-rail-transportation-in-kansas", "passenger-rail-transportation-in-oklahoma", "passenger-rail-transportation-in-texas", "passenger-trains-of-the-atchison,-topeka-and-santa-fe-railway", "railway-services-introduced-in-1948", "railway-services-discontinued-in-1974", "1948-establishments-in-the-united-states", "1974-disestablishments-in-the-united-states"] description: "Passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Chief" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox rail service"]

FieldValue
nameTexas Chief
colorFF0000
imageTexas Chief (15032008214).jpg
image_width300px
captionThe Dallas section of the Texas Chief in 1964
typeInter-city rail
firstApril 3, 1948
lastMay 19, 1974
successorLone Star
formeroperator{{Plainlist
startChicago, Illinois
endGalveston, Texas
distance1410 mi
frequencyDaily
trainnumber15 (west), 16 (east)
seatingChair cars (also: ladies lounge and men's dressing room) (1950)
sleepingSections, roomettes, double bedroom, drawing rooms, compartment
cateringDining car
observationLounge car
map
::

| box_width = | name = Texas Chief | color = FF0000 | logo = | logo_width = | image = Texas Chief (15032008214).jpg | image_width = 300px | caption = The Dallas section of the Texas Chief in 1964 | type = Inter-city rail | status = | locale = | predecessor = | first = April 3, 1948 | last = May 19, 1974 | successor = Lone Star | operator = | formeroperator = {{Plainlist|

History

Santa Fe

The Santa Fe introduced the Texas Chief on April 3, 1948. The train competed with the Texas Eagle (Missouri Pacific Railroad) and the Texas Special (Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad/St. Louis–San Francisco Railway). The journey from Chicago to Galveston took 26 hours 15 minutes, ten hours faster the previous service on the route. Service to Dallas, Texas, began on December 5, 1955. Patronage was strong; historian Keith L. Bryant Jr. credited the Texas Chief with causing the withdrawal of the Texas Special. The Texas Chief was the first major train outside the Chicago–Los Angeles route to carry the "Chief" moniker popularized by the Chief and Super Chief.

Amtrak

The general decline in passenger traffic in the 1960s led to cutbacks on the Texas Chief. Service south of Houston, Texas, ended in April 1967. The Dallas section ended on August 4, 1968.

Amtrak retained the Texas Chief between Chicago and Houston. Santa Fe was planning to discontinue the service unless it was included in the new national system. In 1973 Amtrak proposed re-routing the Texas Chief to serve Dallas. This new route would use the Southern Pacific between Dallas and Houston. Opposition from the SP killed the plan. In 1974 the Santa Fe withdrew permission to use the name due to a perceived decline in service, so Amtrak renamed it the Lone Star.

Rolling stock

The Texas Chief debuted with new equipment, including coaches, Pullman sleeping cars, a dining car, and a lounge. After 1968 excess Hi-Level coaches from the El Capitan and San Francisco Chief could be found on the Texas Chief, along with Big Dome full-length dome lounges from the discontinued Chief.

The Texas Chief featured a wide variety of equipment during its short Amtrak tenure. In addition to ex-Santa Fe equipment such as Hi-Level coaches and Big Domes, Amtrak assigned Vista-Dome dormitory-buffet-lounge-observation cars from the former California Zephyr.

References

;Footnotes ;Sources

References

  1. Santa Fe Railroad. (April 2, 1948). "New Schedules (advertisement)". [[Atchison Globe]].
  2. (April 2, 1948). "New Texas Chief Due Here Sunday On Its First Trip". The Ponca City News.
  3. {{Harvnb. Bryant. 1974
  4. {{Harvnb. Yenne. 2005
  5. {{Harvnb. Sanders. 2006
  6. (December 2, 1970). "Need of Texas Chief in System Stressed". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
  7. (June 16, 1973). "No Sense Switching Chief's Path". [[Waco Tribune-Herald]].
  8. (February 24, 1973). "Dallas Included in Rerouting Of Amtrak Railroad Service". [[Austin American-Statesman]].
  9. (June 8, 1973). "No Decision on Texas Chief Route". Waco News-Tribune.
  10. {{Harvnb. Smith. 1974
  11. {{Harvnb. Sanders. 2006
  12. (March 25, 1974). "RIP Super Chief".
  13. (June 1, 1974). "Train Name Changes: The Real Story".
  14. EuDaly. 2009
  15. {{Harvnb. Flick. Kogan. 1999
  16. {{Harvnb. Wayner. 1972
  17. {{Harvnb. Sanders. 2006

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

former-amtrak-routesformer-long-distance-amtrak-routesnamed-passenger-trains-of-the-united-statesnight-trains-of-the-united-statespassenger-rail-transportation-in-illinoispassenger-rail-transportation-in-missouripassenger-rail-transportation-in-kansaspassenger-rail-transportation-in-oklahomapassenger-rail-transportation-in-texaspassenger-trains-of-the-atchison,-topeka-and-santa-fe-railwayrailway-services-introduced-in-1948railway-services-discontinued-in-19741948-establishments-in-the-united-states1974-disestablishments-in-the-united-states