I was just watching a very informative documentary about the Superchief.
I understand when Amtrak took over Sante Fe railroad and the Super Chief's route that, because Amtrak could not meet the previous high standards, particularly those pertaining to the dining facilities, the SF President refused to let them use the name Chief for their service. Thus it was called the Southwest Limited.
Did this service then become the Southwest Chief and, if so, how did Amtrak get the Chief name back from the SF?
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Yes; it came about in October, 1984 when the AT&SF "allowed" Amtrak to use the name Southwest Chief as Amtrak's services improved enough on the line to warrant it.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
At the same time Santa Fe nixed the use of their 'Chief' brand, the separate Chicago - Houston train via Oklahoma City became Amtrak's 'Lone Star' rather than the original Santa Fe 'Texas Chief'. The 'Lone Star' was discontinued in October 1979.
Posted by PullmanCo (Member # 1138) on :
quote:Originally posted by notelvis: . The 'Lone Star' was discontinued in October 1979.
... under President Carter, a Democrat.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
quote:Originally posted by PullmanCo:
quote:Originally posted by notelvis: . The 'Lone Star' was discontinued in October 1979.
... under President Carter, a Democrat.
Which is why my thought on politicians is, turn off the sound and watch the action.
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
Exactly the same happened in the UK when we had the drastic programme of passenger rail closures in the 1960s (known in the UK as the "Beeching Axe", named after the then Chairman of the Railways).
Although brought in by the right of centre Conservative government only a handful of closures had taken place by the time of the next General Election when the left wing Labour party ousted them from power, only for them to find after they were elected that it wasn't such a bad idea after all and they went ahead with the plan!
Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :
As I have often pointed out (here and on other forums), support for Amtrak is not, and has never been, a liberal/conservative thing. Richard Nixon was no Amtrak fan, to be sure, but under Gerald Ford Amtrak got the money to order Amfleet and Superliners. Under Jimmy Carter, there were the large 1979 cutbacks. Reagan was said to be notoriously anti-Amtrak, but under Reagan and Bush Graham Claytor built Amtrak into a professional organization and expanded the route network. Under Clinton (who talked a lot about high speed rail) the network shrank (twice) and Amtrak was allowed to mortgage itself and go into debt on the "glide path to self-sufficiency". Bush, of course, didn't make much available, so the record is mixed, but arguably both Republican and Democratic administrations have starved Amtrak.
Now, finally, for the moment we've got resources. Let's use them wisely.