Los Angeles' iconic city hall provides the backdrop as Amtrak train 3, The Super Chief, has arrived on Los Angeles Union Station's Track 12 with a trio of new SDP40F diesels for power: AMTK 508, 509 and 512. The diesels are only about a month old, and are still a novelty for railfans accustomed to the Chief still operating with Santa Fe power (old Santa Fe F-Units or combinations of Santa Fe FP45s and F45s on lease to Amtrak). But this train, while still retaining the name Santa Fe used, would soon lose more of its Santa Fe identity beyond the delivery of Amtrak’s own locomotives, when the name was changed in the May 19, 1974, timetable to The Southwest Limited due to Santa Fe not being pleased with the degradation of the service on the train. (Los Angeles, California – July 9, 1973)
What did passenger trains look like before Amtrak in America, and Via Rail in Canada? Find out in this album with 2,700+ Historical Photos from early passenger trains of North America from the 1900's up until the early years of Government passenger trains
