Dear HO Scale Customers,

We received a few extra Santa Fe F-units, Walthers is completely sold out!

If you want to get your hands on them, place your orders 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, the last order for passenger service F7s began in December of 1952 with #306LAB, and continued through March of 1953, when #314LAB was completed. As the years and miles added up, in the 1960s it was common to see five units powering the flagships, 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:

• Limited edition - one time run of these configurations!
• 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(TM) metal knuckle couplers

Era-specific features include:

History from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Drumhead" logos such as theseoften adorned the ends of observation cars on El Capitan.

El Capitan was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was the only coach, or chair car (non-Pullman sleeper) train to operate the Santa Fe main line from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California on the same fast schedule as the road's premier Pullman Super Chief.

This all-coach, streamlined train (assigned Nos. 21 & 22) began operations in February 1938. Not unlike the Pennsylvania Railroad's Trail Blazer, it offered "low-cost passage with high-speed convenience." Originally conceived as the Economy Chief, the name El Capitan was ultimately chosen to honor the Spanish conquistadors and their influence on Southwestern culture, though it didn't hurt that the name seemed to outrank the Union Pacific's Challenger train, with which it was designed to compete. Unique in charging an extra-fare despite being a coach train, it pioneered such features as "RideMaster" seating optimized for sleeping. The original consists were two new Budd Company-built trains of five cars each made of lightweight stainless steel. Each of the two luxury trains were capable of accommodating 188 passengers; fare Chicago to Los Angeles was $5.00 above the $39.50 regular coach fare (in 1938). The 80-foot cars had 52 seats on 41-1/2 inch centers; postwar 85-foot coaches had 44 seats on 52-inch centers.

El Capitan was the first of Santa Fe's trains to utilize the "Big Dome"-Lounge cars, though these were soon given to the Chief in favor of new double-decker "Hi-Level" coaches developed by Budd and the railroad in 1955. These experimental units featured a quieter ride, increased seating capacities, and boasted better views of the Southwestern terrain El Cap passed through and made this train unique and revolutionary. Amtrak's Superliner equipment, which was placed in service along many of Amtrak's long distance routes, were based on the Santa Fe Hi-Level design. The Superliners were designed to be operated along with older Hi-Level cars.

In 1958 the train was combined with the Super Chief and operated under train numbers 17 and 18 through the end of Santa Fe passenger operations. Today the route formerly covered by El Capitan is served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief. Many of Amtrak's trains (especially those in California) consist of a combination of refurbished former Santa Fe Hi-Level cars along with newer Superliner railcar designs. In recent years, four "mothballed" El Capitan lounge cars were removed from storage, refurbished, and placed into service on Amtrak's Coast Starlight as "Pacific Parlour" first-class lounge cars. These refurbished cars feature a service bar, booths, and chairs on the upper level, and a theater on the lower level.

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