My Wish Lists
My Wish Lists
Super Chief - El Capitan
Locomotives
Resplendent in traditional Warbonnet colors, Santa Fe #306-314 were the last new F7s ordered for passenger service in 1952-53. By the 1960s, additional grab irons, partial skirts, different air horns and other changes had been made, but the most significant came as they began running as individual units. With a wealth of era-specific details and the proven power of the WalthersProto drive, A-B sets and matching A and B units are available with LokSound 5 or Standard DC to complement and complete your Santa Fe streamliner fleet.
Hi-Level & Conventional Cars
Operating with its mix of gleaming Hi-Level and conventional lightweight cars, the combined Super Chief / El Capitan was a sight to behold roaring through dreary winter landscapes. Like the prototype, all the signature cars assigned to the combined train - including the all-new 11 Double-Bedroom sleeper - are now available to model this amazing streamliner! Complete with factory-applied grab irons, diaphragms, interior detail and tinted windows as appropriate, authentic trucks with 36" turned metal wheelsets and built-in electrical pick-ups, and modeler-installed extended drawbars for 22" radius curves, each is finished in our exclusive real metal finish that simulates stainless steel, or painted in authentic colors as appropriate. For easy customizing, they're available with decals to model any car in the fleet, or with a factory-printed name or number. (Check out the Add-on Cars section below for more great Santa Fe models!)
Deluxe Edition Cars
Produced especially for the operator and collector, these consists arrive ready to enjoy and admire! Two complete 11-car sets are available for the combined flagship, or choose the three-car Denver Connection, which ferried riders between La Junta, and Denver. Fully assembled, they feature names and numbers unique to the sets, Preiser passenger and crew figures throughout (over 180 in Deluxe Edition Sets 1 and 2; 18 in the Denver Connection) and factory-installed LED lighting as appropriate. With production strictly limited to the number of preorders we receive and sold only in sets, order now so you're not left at the station!
Add-on Santa Fe Cars
Model a second section, expand your current Santa Fe streamliner fleet or create custom cars for your railroad with this series of HO models. In addition to the standard equipment found on every WalthersProto replica, add-on cars are available with exclusive extras including car name or number decals, factory-installed LED interior lighting, special paint schemes where appropriate - and the 72-Seat Hi-Level Coach is available in railroad-ready Deluxe Editions with factory-printed name or number, LED lighting and Preiser figures!
Cornerstone® Structure Kits
Trains are only the beginning when it comes to authentic layout detail, and these Cornerstone structure kits based on Santa Fe prototypes will make any trackside town more realistic. Check out the simple elegance of the modern Brick Station, perfect for layouts from the 1950s to the present, and keep trains moving safely with the Interlocking Tower.
Lighting Kits
Capture the romance of travel by train day or night with these drop-in LED interior lighting kits made especially for WalthersProto Passenger Cars. Fully assembled with bright LEDs, they're an easy upgrade for equipment old or new running on DCC or DC layouts.
Category 7 Name
category 7 description here..
As the flagships of the Santa Fe's legendary passenger service, the Super Chief and El Capitan offered riders the best of both worlds. Always the last word in luxury, the Super Chief was an oasis of quiet comfort where guests were treated like royalty. With its lower-priced coach seats and spectacular views from the signature Hi-Levels, El Capitan was a favorite with families and business travelers.
Operating as a first and second section on the same 39-plus hour schedule, by the late 1950s ridership for both would peak in summer and again at Christmas. At other times one train could easily do the job, and Santa Fe quietly combined them for the first time on January 12, 1958. This would be standard practice through 1970, when only the combined train operated.
With few changes, Amtrak took over in 1971, however Santa Fe retained all rights to the El Capitan and Super Chief names. Increasingly displeased with Amtrak's ability to maintain high standards, Santa Fe withdrew naming rights in 1974, at which time the train was renamed the Southwest Limited. In 1984, Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to once again use its trademarks for the renamed Southwest Chief, which still serves Chicago-Los Angeles today.
No other F-units captured the spirit of passenger service like Santa Fe's vast fleet. Emblazoned with the road's signature Warbonnet scheme, they held premiere assignments from the late 1940s on, and some served with Amtrak!
Construction of the last order for passenger service F7s began in December of 1952 with #306LAB, and continued through March of 1953, when #314LAB was completed. Delivered as matched A-B-B sets, each came with a 48" dynamic brake fan and vertical grilles, but only B units carried steam generators. As the years and miles added up, fuel tank skirts were cut down, and additional grab irons were installed among other modifications, but the most significant change came in the 1960s when they began running as individual units, but still in A-B-B-A lash-ups. As the years passed and the miles began adding up, it became increasingly common to see five units up front, with a random arrangement of A and B units spliced in behind the lead engine.
Perfect power for the combined late 1960s Super Chief / El Capitan and other Santa Fe streamliners, these layout-ready replicas come with all the standard WalthersProto features including:
* Based on Phase II units #306LAB - #314LAB in service from the 1950s to 1970s
* Available with ESU LokSound 5 Sound & DCC for DCC and DC layouts
* Five-Pole, skew-wound high-efficiency can motor
* Helical gears with 14:1 ratio for smooth, ultra-quiet running
* Easy multiple-unit operation
* Superb paint and lettering with real metal and painted finish
* Heavy die-cast metal underframe
* Proto MAX™ metal knuckle couplers
Era-specific features include:
* Five-chime air horn offset to engineer's side
* Rear-mount firecracker radio antenna
* Working Mars light on A Units
* Steam generator detail on B units
* Cut-down fuel tank skirts
* 48" dynamic brake fan
* Eyebrow grab irons above windshield
* Grab irons on and over engineer's side of nose
* Nose-mounted lifting lugs alongside door
* Vertical grilles and louvers
* Nose MU door (printed for scale thickness)
The 1950s were a time of continuous upgrades and innovations for Santa Fe's flagship Super Chief and El Capitan that saw the introduction of the road's only standard dome cars, as well as the unique Hi-Level coaches, lounges and diners.
With the latest equipment, superb attention to every detail on board, and innovative advertising and promotion, riders flocked to the trains during the summer vacation season and the holidays. During the fall and late winter however, a single train would suffice, and from January 1958 on, the train ran with a mix of conventional and Hi-Level cars during off-peak periods. This policy of combining and separating by season would be standard until 1970, when the mixed consist was used year 'round, and continued after Amtrak took over the following year.
* Complete consist for the combined Santa Fe trains from 1968 to 1971
* NEW - Pullman-Standard 11-Double Bedroom Sleeper
* Available in 2 versions - Standard w/decals, or Factory-printed name/number
* Prototypically tinted windows with gaskets as appropriate
* Factory-installed grab irons
* Modeler-installed extended drawbars for 22" radius curves
* Superbly detailed inside and out
* Mix and match with other Santa Fe streamliners
* Correct trucks with turned metal 36" wheelsets
* Proto MAX™ metal knuckle couplers
A superb addition to operations or collections, choose from two complete 11-car sets to model the combined flagship, or choose the layout-sized, three-car Denver Connection, which ferried riders between La Junta, and Denver. Fully assembled, each stunning replica features names and numbers unique to the sets, Preiser passenger and crew figures installed throughout (over 180 in Deluxe Edition Sets 1 and 2; 18 in the Denver Connection) and factory-installed LED lighting as appropriate.
With production strictly limited to the number of preorders we receive and sold only in sets, order now so you're not left at the station!
Deluxe Edition Consist #1
920-825
74' Baggage Car #3918*
85' Baggage-Dorm Transition Car #3477
85' 68-Seat Step-Down Coach (forward seats) #532
85' 68-Seat Step-Down Coach (reverse seats) #528
85' 10-6 Sleeper Pine Pass
85' 36-Seat Diner #601
85' 11 Double-Bedroom Sleeper Indian Lake
85' Pleasure Dome Bar Lounge #500
85' 4-4-2 Sleeper Regal Crown
85' Hi-Level Diner #651
85' Hi-Level Sky Lounge #577
Deluxe Edition Consist #2
920-826
74' Baggage Car #3857
85' Baggage-Dorm Transition Car #3477
85' 68-Seat Step-Down Coach (forward seats) #535
85' 68-Seat Step-Down Coach (reverse seats) #530
85' 10-6 Sleeper Pine Grove
85' 36-Seat Diner #605
85' 11 Double-Bedroom Sleeper Indian Scout
85' Pleasure Dome Bar Lounge #502
85' 4-4-2 Sleeper Regal River
85' Hi-Level Diner #655
85' Hi-Level Sky Lounge #580
The Denver Connection
920-827
Connecting train for combined Super Chief/El Capitan between La Junta, and Denver, Colorado, through 1971, this set is the perfect size for operation or display!
NEWLY TOOLED! Steam Generator Car #134*
Baggage Car #3817
46-Seat Coach #2842 w/18 Preiser figures & LED interior lighting
* No figures or lights
While both trains continued to use their assigned equipment throughout the 1960s, minor adjustments were made to both the separate and combined consists. The Super Chief added three 44-seat chair cars (Santa Fe classified all long-distance coaches as chair cars for the use of reclining seats), and a lower-priced lunch-counter diner in peak periods. In 1964, 11 double-bedroom cars (the largest sleeping space available) arrived and were sometimes used in place of the 4-4-2 sleepers. While both trains lost their working Railway Post Office cars in 1968, following the cancellation of first-class mail contracts the previous fall, both continued to handle storage mail (typically bulk shipments to a single large post office such as magazine or catalogs) in baggage cars. Amtrak ran an almost identical combined consist, with the cars eventually repainted in then-current schemes.
Here are some typical Santa Fe combined consists from the late 1960s
Super Chief / EL Capitan Train 17 westbound Chicago- Los Angeles
April 1 to June 1, 1968, all cars run Chicago to Los Angeles as noted.
F3/F7A-B, four to five units typical
Storage Mail - Lightweight Baggage
Baggage-Dormitory
68-Seat Hi-Level Coach (run backward, vestibule on lower end faces front of train)
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
80-Seat Hi-Level Diner
Hi-Level Lounge
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
68-Seat High-Level Coach (runs forward, vestibule on lower end faces rear of train)
10-6 Sleeper
11-Double-Bedroom Sleeper
4-4-2 Sleeper
Dome Lounge (Pleasure Dome; runs with dome to rear)
36-Seat Diner (kitchen to the rear)
11-Double-Bedroom Sleeper
11-Double-Bedroom Sleeper or 4-4-2 Sleeper
10-6 Sleeper (Kansas City - Los Angeles)
Super Chief / EL Capitan Train 18 eastbound Los Angeles - Chicago
June 1970; during the last full year of Santa Fe operation, only combined consists were operated. All cars run Los Angeles to Chicago.
F3/F7A-B, four to five units typical
Steam Generator (added March 1970; converted lightweight baggage)
Storage Mail - Lightweight Baggage
Baggage-Dormitory
68-Seat Hi-Level Coach (run backward, vestibule on lower end faces front of train)
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
80-Seat Hi-Level Diner
Hi-Level Lounge
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
72-Seat Hi-Level Coach
68-Seat High-Level Coach (runs forward, vestibule on lower end faces rear of train)
10-6 or 4-4-2 Sleeper
10-6 Sleeper
11-Double-Bedroom Sleeper
Dome Lounge (Pleasure Dome)
36-Seat Diner (kitchen to the rear)
11-Double-Bedroom Sleeper
10-6 Sleeper
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