Passenger Trains > Dallas cutoff for the TexasChief

Could somebody please tell me what year the Santa Fe built he new line  to Dallas so Texas Chief passengers could go directly to Dallas?  Did they take cars off the Chief or was it an across the platform connection at Gainsville?  It looks like in 62 that 115-116 ran through coaches and sleepers connecting with 15 and 16. I thought I read somewhere later on it was an across platform connection in Gainsville. Where did the line branch off of the mainline to go to Dallas?  Also what year did they quit making that connection?  I guess what I'm asking is for a short history of this line and how connections were made if you wanted to go to or come from Dallas.  My 1962 Official Guide shows the Kansas Cityan and Chicagoan going through Fort Worth.  Was this track abandoned and if so, when?  Any info on these operations would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot for any replies!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, tX

Below is the info that I gathered for my DVD "BNSF Fort Worth Subdivision" which covered the trains on BNSF's Fort Worth sub south of Gainesville in May of 2009.
Dick Eisfeller

<In order to reach Dallas from the north, freight trains had to make a time-consuming detour through Cleburne, 29 miles south of Fort Worth although passenger trains could use the Missouri Pacific between Fort Worth and Dallas.  In 1955 the Santa Fe acquired trackage rights on a Cotton Belt line north of Dallas and constructed a 38-mile long branch known as the Denton cutoff from their main line to reach Dallas from the north.  This line diverged from the main at Dalton Junction, which is now called Dallas Junction.  A newly inaugurated Streamliner, the Texas Chief from Chicago, was split into Dallas and Fort Worth sections at Gainesville, with the main part of the train continuing on to Houston and the Dallas section both passing through here.  Santa Fe’s line through Dallas was severed in 1992 when eighteen miles through Dallas was sold to Dallas Area Rapid Transit.  Most of the rest of the Dallas area trackage was sold to Kansas City Southern including Santa Fe’s Zacha Junction intermodal facility and the 1955 line from what is now called Dallas Junction to Dallas.  This was coordinated with the opening of the Alliance Yard in 1994 and a new connecting track was built at Dallas junction to give KCS trains access to Alliance Yard.>



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/19 20:41 by Dick.

Line was built in ‘55 Dalton Jct(now Metro Jct) on the OKC -Ft Worth Line, to Zacha in northeast Dallas on the
Paris-Dallas line.  Trains used the Paris-Dallas track from Zacha to Big D.  There were two stations on this new line,
one in Denton (US 380 @ US 77, now I-35) and one at White Rock (Jupiter @Kingsley).  Service was from ‘55 to ‘68.

i don’t believe the Cotton Belt Route was involved during this time period.

My 1961 guide shows through coaches and a 10-6 sleeper from Chicago to Dallas via Gainesville.

Trains 11 and 12 carried a through coach between Chicago and Dallas via Ft. Worth.

Thanks for thr replies!

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

In 1967 I was on the ATSF train from Clovys to Dallas. I was in a 10-6 and it had a very nice lunch counter diner. Not sure if that train had a name or what routing it took? I had connected at Clovis from the SF Chief I boarded at Amarillo after an overnight ride on the FW&D from Denver.

You were on the California Special out of Clovis with a Dallas section splitting at Brownwood.  The California Special was a Houston (one time Galveston) to LA train that merged with the San Francisco Chief at Clovis and then split off to join the Grand Canyon at Barstow into to LA 
palmland Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In 1967 I was on the ATSF train from Clovys to
> Dallas. I was in a 10-6 and it had a very nice
> lunch counter diner. Not sure if that train had a
> name or what routing it took? I had connected at
> Clovis from the SF Chief I boarded at Amarillo
> after an overnight ride on the FW&D from Denver.