Santa Fe's El Capitan
The Classic Hi-Level
Coach of Santa Fe
Santa fe's El Capitan trains is the first high level coach in America.
It ran between Chicago and Los Anglese from 1937.2.22 to 1971.5.2. After
Amtrak took over the passenger trains from railroads, those El Capitan
coaches are still used in Amtrak trains. Amtrak's Superliner is very similar
to those classic high level coach, however, those ex-Santa Fe hi-level
coach is a little lower than it. The last regular run of El Capitan hi-level
is the lounge car in Amtrak's Coast startlight. It is still running now!
Hi-Level
Coach
The right photo
is the original hi-level coach used by Amtrak. I took this photo in 1996
in Amtrak Los Angeles yard. The left photo is a modified image. I
used photoshop to remove Amtrak Red-White-Blue line.
Hi-Level
Lounge Car
You still
can see those ex-Santa Fe Hi-Level lounge car are used in Amtrak's Coast
Starlight in West America. Coast Starlight run from San Diego, Los Angeles
to Seattle. It is a daily train. There are 2 lounge cars in one Coast
Starlight train. The new Superliner lounge car is for all passengers, but
the ex-Santa Fe Hi-level lounge car is ONLY for First class passenger.
The following photos are taken in Los Angeles Union Station in 1997.
The original Santa Fe El Capitan poster.
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