Chicagoan (ATSF train)

Chicagoan
Overview
Type	Inter-city rail
System	AT&SF
Termini	Chicago, Illinois Wichita, Kansas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Dallas, Texas
Operation
Opened	April 10, 1938
Closed	April 18, 1968[1]
Owner	AT&SF
Operator(s)	AT&SF
Technical
Line length	663 mi (1,067.00 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

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.

On April 17, 1938, the Santa Fe introduced a pair of day trains using lightweight, streamlined cars from the Budd Company. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

References

1. ^ Bartels, Michael (2008-04). "Great Plains Dispatcher" (PDF). Newsletter. Great Plains Transportation Museum and the Wichita Chapter National Railway Historical Society. p. 4. http://www.gptm.us/dispatcher/08_04.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 

• The Streamlined Passenger Trains of the United States and Canada by Alan L. Pettet