El Capitan (train)
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The El Capitan was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California. It operated from 1938 to 1971; Amtrak retained the name until 1973. The El Capitan was the only all-coach or "chair car" to operate on the Santa Fe main line between Chicago and Los Angeles on the same fast schedule as the railroad's premier all-Pullman Super Chief. It was also the first train to receive the pioneering Hi-Level equipment with which it would become synonymous.
The El Capitan depicted on a 1950s postcard at some point after receiving its Hi-Level equipment.
The train at Albuquerque in 1938
The combined Super Chief / El Capitan, led by EMD F7s in Santa Fe's Warbonnet paint scheme, pulls into Track 10 at Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) on September 24, 1966.
Santa Fe EMD F3A #19, assigned to that day's El Capitan, smashed through a concrete barrier at Los Angeles Union Station in January 1948
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
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The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States.
ATSF 5051, an EMD SD40-2, leads a train through Marceline, Missouri, in August 1983.
D&RGW through Royal Gorge in 1881
Gold bond of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company, issued October 1, 1889
AT&SF and SP Railroad trains meet at Walong siding on the Tehachapi Loop in the late 1980s.