Santa Fe Chiefs (Great Trains)

Like lightning flashing across the desert sky, the Chief streaks by, resplendent in its ""warbonnet"" livery. This splendid illustrated history of the Santa Fe Railroad’s flagship passenger trains carries readers back to an era of luxury travel on America’s rails — when movie stars and moguls booked their places on the Chief for the 40-hour trip from Chicago to Los Angeles — faster even than Amtrak’s Southwest Chief today. The story of America’s most celebrated passenger train, the nation’s first diesel-poweed streamliner — from its first run in 1936 to its takeover by Amtrak in 1971 — also includes cocverage of the Santa Fe’s other Chiefs, including the Texas and San Francisco.