If one does not understand the passenger history of the Santa Fe one has not visited the Second District. The Super Chief, El Capitan, Chief, Grand Canyon, Centennial State, California Limited and the Fast Mail Express all began their high speed trek across the Kansas plains in this area. While the Santa Fe passenger tradition ended in May of 1971 there are relics still surviving in 1998. This is due in large part to an unlikely player; Amtrak. Some depots still survive to serve Amtrak. Others still stand as maintenance of way houses which are used to keep this line upto passenger standards. Semaphore signals which would have been turned off and torn down years ago still stand to mark the passage of Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The line is one of the few places left in the United States where a passenger can still experience the moderate speed clickity clack sound of jointed rail. This tied with the senic transition to the Kansas high plains and you have a timeless moving artistic painting equal to any Rembrant.
Activity is very light. In fact the passage of a freight is the exception rather than the rule. The drive from Hutchison to Dodge City unfortunately is usually made without the sight of a locomotive. This is not the point of a journey through this area. The traveler instead is left with a backdrop to paint his own picture. Take a timetable from any era that the Santa Fe operated passenger trains and mark the passage of trains over this route.
Timetable from November 29, 1942
Distance from Atchison
MP 218.0 HUTCHISON
MP 218.2 HUTCHISON JCT
MP 219.2 Mo. Pac. CROSSING/ PANHANDLE JCT.
MP 223.4 WHITESIDE
MP 228.9 PARTRIDGE
MP 235.1 ABBYVILLE
MP 240.7 PLEVNA
MP 246.4 SYLVIA
MP 251.1 ZENITH
MP 257.0 STAFFORD
MP 257.2 Mo. Pac. CROSSING
MP 266.0 ST. JOHN
MP 272.8 DILLWYN
MP 277.6 MACKSVILLE
MP 284.9 BELPRE
MP 293.3 LEWIS
MP 296.9 OMAR
MP 302.4 KINSLEY
MP 324.7 OFFERLE See page 69 Wheat Lines and Super Freights
MP 230.3 BELLEFONT
MP 236.1 SPEARVILLE
MP 344.7 WRIGHT
MP 352.5 DODGE CITY