Super Chief Information Brochure for Passengers, 1966

Super Chief at Los Angeles

I have never seen any reference to the AT&SF streamliner Super Chief being anything other than an all-1st class sleeper car service - but in summer, 1966, my Mom, sister and I rode it from Chicago to Williams, AZ (where we transferred to a local train bound down the "Peavine" for Phoenix) and we rode in the "chair car section."  That journey and time on Santa Fe's Super Chief remains one of the high points of my life.  This is a brochure I kept from that trip. 

My memories from the ride on the Super Chief include falling asleep in my coach chair while watching the view of the Illinois countryside fade away in the dark, waking up for just a moment as we passed by Fort Madison. I missed Kansas City in the night, and awoke in between Newton and Hutchinson, KS to see the golden sunlight on Kansas wheat.  After that, I remember everyone scrambling to find a good vantage to watch as we climbed Raton Pass, the narrow canyon approaching Lamy, and a station stop and stretching my legs on the platform while they serviced the train in Albuquerque.  We got off at Williams, AZ and my last memory of the Super Chief was the taillight and the Santa Fe Indian-head crest on the rear-most car of the train as it glided off into the night toward California. 

We rode another train from there to Phoenix which we almost missed because the station personnel didn't announce it -- I guess they weren't used to seeing passengers for it!  On the Super Chief, a car attendant named Peter Karohalius, a Greek student who worked the trains in the summer, entertained us (my sister and I) like an older brother for a good part of the day. The one thing I don't remember was the meals -- it was still a Fred Harvey thing and I know we snagged a menu or two as souvenirs -- but I cannot remember what we ate or how good it was.  You'd think I would - since eating is and always was, my focus!