WALTHERS 

HO Scale  

Ready-To-Run

THIS IS PART OF THE 

SUPER CHIEF SET 

OFFERED in the PLATED METAL FINISH

Santa Fe 1951 SUPER CHIEF 

PS PLEASURE DOME 

 -- Santa Fe  (Plated Finish)

Out-Of-Production 

DISCONTINUED By the Manufacturer

" SUPER CHIEF " series in the GOLDEN AGE OF RAILROADING

This is the LIMITED EDITION SERIES with detailed INTERIORS and the 

PLATED METAL FINISH

FLAGSHIP of the LINE

The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" because it often carried celebrities between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California.

The Super Chief (Nos. 17 and 18) was the first diesel-electric powered cross-country passenger train in America.  The train eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fe's standard bearer. The extra-fare ($10) Super Chief left Dearborn Station in Chicago for its first trip on May 12, 1936. Before starting scheduled service in May 1937, the lightweight version of the Super Chief ran 2,227 miles (3,584 km) from Los Angeles over recently upgraded tracks in 36 hours and 49 minutes, averaging 60 mph (97 km/h) overall and reaching 100 mph (160 km/h).

With one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. After more passenger cars were delivered in 1938, the Super Chief ran twice weekly that year, and later (from 1948) trips were again increased, to offer daily service. Adding to the train's mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele.

Competitors to the Super Chief were the City of Los Angeles trains on the Chicago and North Western Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad, and (to a lesser extent) the Golden State on the Rock Island and Southern Pacific lines. The Santa Fe Super Chief was one of the last passenger trains in the United States to carry an all-Pullman consist; only the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited and the Illinois Central's Panama Limited outlasted it. The Super Chief maintained its high level of service until Santa Fe ceased all passenger operations on May 1, 1971.

When Amtrak took over operation of the nation's passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, it retained the Super Chief. In 1974 due to a publicly-perceived decline in quality of passenger service, the Santa Fe Railway withdrew permission to use the "Chief" trade name, so Amtrak renamed the train The Southwest Limited. In 1984 after new Superliner equipment had replaced the aging original rolling stock, Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to rename its train to the Southwest Chief.

Route

A map depicting the "Grand Canyon Route" of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway c. 1901.

Santa Fe's marketing advantage for the Super Chief lay in the geography of the route as well as its ownership. The Santa Fe began as a rail line along the old Santa Fe and Spanish Trails, from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers (at Atchison and Topeka, Kansas) to the Pecos River and Rio Grande in New Mexico. This initial route was eventually extended to Los Angeles.

The convenience of traveling "Santa Fe All The Way" was superior to anything that the competing jointly operated railroads could provide on their routes to the west coast. A single traffic and operating department managed all the divisions and districts of the Santa Fe route from Chicago to Los Angeles. Dining cars, the commissary supply chains, the on-board service crews and their management; all worked together from Chicago to Los Angeles.

The Super Chief ran through Kansas City, Missouri; Newton, Kansas; Dodge City, Kansas; La Junta, Colorado; Raton, New Mexico; Las Vegas, New Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Gallup, New Mexico; Winslow, Arizona; Seligman, Arizona; Needles, California; Barstow, California; San Bernardino, California; and Pasadena, California.  During the pre-war years the Super Chief did not allow passengers to board or disembark at any point between Kansas City and Barstow; intermediate stops were operating stops only, to change crews or to service the train.  During the war the rules were relaxed to carry passengers to and from Albuquerque and La Junta, but only when unsold space was available at train time.  Not until the postwar era could passengers travel to intermediate stations on the Super Chief.

The Santa Fe intended the Super Chief to be the latest in a long line of luxury Chicago–Los Angeles trains wedded to the latest in railroad technology. In the 1930s these included air conditioning, lightweight all-metal construction, and diesel locomotion.  In August 1935 the General Motors Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC) delivered two blunt-nosed diesel-electric units Nos. 1 and 1A, intended to pull the Super Chief. Aside from an ALCO HH600 switcher at Dearborn Station in Chicago, they were the Santa Fe's first diesel-electrics and the first such trains intended for passenger service.  114–115  The locomotives made their first test run with a set of Pullman cars and a dynamometer car in September 1935.  The first Super Chief operated on May 12, 1936, with the diesels pulling air-conditioned heavyweight Pullman cars.  They were put into regular service on May 18, 1937.

In 1937, Santa Fe purchased several of Electro-Motive’s new “Streamliner Series” diesel-electric locomotives and placed them in service on the Super Chief line. These locomotives were the first to wear Santa Fe’s red, yellow, and silver “War bonnet” color scheme. EMC’s sleek and efficient streamlined locomotives became the standard on North American railroads.  Hollywood celebrities frequently rode the fashionable Super Chief, making it known as “The Train of The Stars.”

Transcontinental sleeping cars

By January 1954 the Super Chief had inherited from the Santa Fe's Chief the service of running continuous Los Angeles-New York sleepers continuing from Chicago on the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited and on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited.  The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad offered a similar service with Los Angeles-Washington, D.C., sleepers on that company's Shenandoah westbound and Capitol Limited eastbound.  However, in October 1957 the PRR dropped its Broadway Limited sleeper connection. Upon the April 1958 timetables, the cooperating railroads terminated their transcontinental sleeper operations. Declining ridership and delay from switching sleeping cars between Chicago terminals were factors in the through-car termination.

HOLLYWOOD MISTIQUE

The Super Chief was a near-instant success among travelers who appreciated its modern, air-conditioned cars, private bedrooms, high amenity levels, and smooth ride.  The train was staffed with top-of-the-line crews ingrained with the best traditions of the railroad, and drew passengers not only from other railroads but from other Santa Fe trains such as the Chief.

The Super Chief quickly became "the" train to ride between Chicago and Los Angeles, much as New York Central's 20th Century Limited was the favored travel option of the time for the East Coast-bound. To acquaint passengers with the various points of interest located along the route, Santa Fe built seven signs marking such notable features as the Continental Divide and Raton Pass.

In the mid-1940s, company president Fred G. Gurley went to great lengths to solicit business from California's motion picture industry. A passenger agent was located in Hollywood specifically for the purpose of maintaining close contact with the movie studios. The train stopped at Pasadena to allow celebrities to board away from the "hustle and bustle" of Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT). When the Santa Fe was notified that a particular celebrity was going to be traveling on the Super Chief, a press release was issued to allow the media to interview and photograph the star.

Legendary Jazz Pianist Fats Waller died of pneumonia at the age of 39 on board the Santa Fe Super Chief on December 15, 1943.

In time the passenger list would include many Hollywood stars, such as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, James Cagney, Judy Garland, and Bing Crosby. The train's appeal was not limited to those in the entertainment industry, as it also played host to former presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and their wives.

Several radio and TV episodes of The Jack Benny Show had plotlines involving the cast travelling on the Super Chief. in one, a tout at Los Angeles Union Station tried to convince Jack to take the El Capitan instead.

 

Santa Fe 1951 SUPER CHIEF

Based on Cars used from 1951

Real Metal Finish

Prototypically Accurate Window Tinting

All Grab Irons Factory Installed

Tail Sign Can be Lighted

Tables in Diner & Lounge Painted in Contrasting Colors

Mix & Match w/Super Chief Cars - Just like the Prototype!

Car Number Decals

Superb Detail Inside & Out

Proto MAX™ Metal Knuckle Couplers

Correct Trucks with RP-25 Metal Wheels

First Edition Cars come with:

The Legendary Super Chief is Back - and Better than Ever!

* Real Metal Finish Simulates Stainless Steel

* ALL Grab Irons Factory Installed

* Prototypically Tinted Windows

* New "Regal" Series 4-4-2 Sleeper

* Matching PROTO 2000(R) 16 Class Late Production F3s

* Scaled from Engineering Drawings

* Crisp Lettering Matched to Prototype Photos

* Correct Car Name & Number Decals

* Proto MAX(TM) Metal Knuckle Couplers

* Detailed Trucks

* RP-25 Metal Wheels

A silver lightning bolt flashes across the desert floor as the "Super Chief" streaks between Chicago and Los Angeles! A favorite with celebrities and the rich and powerful, Santa Fe's flagship rolls again in these superb HO Scale models of cars assigned to the train in the mid-1950s - with Walthers exclusive real metal finish that matches the stainless steel of the prototypes, prototypically tinted windows and factory-installed grab irons!

But that's not all - Walthers "Super Chief" includes the never before available "Regal" series 4-4-2 sleeper - for a completely accurate consist!

Each Super Chief car accepts Walthers Passenger Car Interior Lighting Kits, (#933-1049 for DC, #933-1084 DCC, each sold separately). These drop-in units come fully assembled and include complete instructions for installation in various types of Walthers cars. Note: The Pleasure Dome has a unique interior that requires lighting kit #933-1083, sold separately.

Each comes fully assembled with Walthers real metal "stainless steel" finish, factory-installed grab irons, prototypically tinted windows, correct trucks and much more.

PLEASE NOTE: As these cars are the correct prototype length and feature full underbody detail to match the prototypes, a minimum 24" radius is recommended for operation.

THIS IS NEW item in the ORIGINAL box 

 We do combine shipping on multiple purchases.  If you do a Buy It Now the transaction requires immediate payment for each item separately. 

What you need to do is put it in the shopping cart and then when you go to checkout it will recalculate the shipping and combine the items for you. 

If you pay first I am unable to make any adjustment because ebay has then taken its fees on the shipping as well.  If you have a concern message me and I can work something out for you.

 

THIS IS AN ASSEMBLED Item

The item is NEW in the original box from old stock 

 

PERSONAL INVENTORY:

Many of these unique items are from my personal inventory which was accumulated over the years.   They are hard to part with but due to downsizing in retirement they too are looking for a good home which can appreciate and enjoy them.

STORE INVENTORY:

Having discontinued my Hobby Store and left frigid “Minne-Snow-Da” I have relocated and retired to the warmer part of the country, Down to Sunny TEXAS.   

I will be Liquidating the remaining stock. 

I will be listing items over the next year or so clearing them out.

Please see the photos we take actual photos of each item

Most of these items are New in the box removed only to take photos of them.