Texas Chief

The Texas Chief was a passenger train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Galveston, Texas. It operated from 1948 to 1974. It was the first Santa Fe "Chief" outside the Chicago–Los Angeles route. The Santa Fe conveyed the Texas Chief to Amtrak in 1971; Amtrak would rename it the Lone Star in 1974.

History

Santa Fe

The Santa Fe introduced the Texas Chief on April 3, 1948. The train competed with the Texas Eagle (Missouri Pacific Railroad) and the Texas Special (Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad/St. Louis–San Francisco Railway). The journey from Chicago to Galveston required 26 hours 15 minutes, ten hours faster the previous service on the route. Service to Dallas, Texas, began in 1955. Patronage was strong; historian Keith L. Bryant Jr. credited the Texas Chief with causing the withdrawal of the Texas Special. The Texas Chief was the first major train outside the Chicago–Los Angeles route to carry the "Chief" moniker popularized by the Chief and Super Chief.

Lone Star (Amtrak train)

The Lone Star was an Amtrak passenger train serving Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, Houston and intermediate points. The train was renamed from the Texas Chief, which the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had introduced in 1948. Amtrak discontinued the Lone Star in 1979.

History

The Santa Fe introduced the Texas Chief between Chicago, Illinois and Galveston, Texas on April 3, 1948. The service survived, with adjustments, until the coming of Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak renamed the train the Lone Star on May 19, 1974, after the Santa Fe determined that Amtrak's trains no longer met its service standards and demanded that Amtrak stop using the "Chief" name.

A number of colleges and universities along the route—including the University of Kansas, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Wichita State University, University of Oklahoma—provided students looking for economical transportation.

Due to cuts by Congress, the Reorganization Act of 1979, pressed by the US Department of Transportation under the Carter administration, Amtrak's Lone Star was discontinued on October 8, 1979. At the time of its discontinuance, the train was ranked as Amtrak's 7th most popular long-distance train.

Texas

Texas /ˈtɛksəs/ (Spanish: Texas or Tejas [ˈtexas]) is a state in the United States of America. It is the second most populous and second largest state by area in the US. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares an international border with Mexico to the south and borders the states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²) and a growing population of over 27.5 million residents (July 2015).

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest United States metropolitan statistical areas, respectively. Other major cities include Austin (the state capital) and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify Texas as a former independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state flag and on the Texan state seal. The origin of the state name, Texas, is from the word, "Tejas", which means 'friends' in the Caddo language.

List of minor planets: 35001–36000

The Texas (locomotive)

Western & Atlantic Railroad #49 "Texas" is a 4-4-0 "American" type steam locomotive built in 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad by Danforth, Cooke & Co.. The Texas is widely known for being involved in the Great Locomotive Chase during the American Civil War as the engine that successfully pursued the General locomotive after it was stolen by Union saboteurs in an attempt to ruin the Confederate rail system. The locomotive is currently preserved at the Atlanta Cyclorama building within Grant Park in Atlanta, Georgia, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It will be restored and relocated to the Atlanta History Center in 2016.

Antebellum

The Texas was built in October 1856 for the Western & Atlantic Railroad by locomotive manufacturer Danforth, Cooke and Company in Paterson, New Jersey. It was subsequently shipped from Paterson to the Port of Savannah, traveled the Georgia Rail Road & Banking Company and Macon & Western Railroad, before finally being delivered to the W&A headquarters in Atlanta that same year.