El Capitan Chicago Dearborn Station to Los Angeles Union Station

 Postcards picture the two terminal stations that mark the final destinations of the Santa Fe El Capitan

Lionel El Capitan 6-30001

The Lionel El Capitan 6-30001 was introduced in 2004 and was featured on the cover of the Lionel Ready-to-Run catalog in 2009.

The Lionel Santa Fe El Capitan 6-30001 was built between 2004-2009. The set included one Lionel FT Diesel Locomotive 6-24568 (158).

The Lionel El Capitan Conventional FT Deisel 6-24568 (158) was built from 2004-2009 and was only available as part of the 6-30001 El Capitan passenger set. This locomotive was based on the Sante Fe FT manufactured by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division. Designed to run on O27 and greater radius 3-rail track it is decorated in the ubiquitous Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme. The El Capitan Conv. FT Diesel features included: a three-position E -Unit, Operating headlight, Trainsounds sound system with diesel engine revving, horn, bell, squealing brakes, and operator-controlled CrewTalk, operating front coupler, dual maintenance-free motors, traction tires, die-cast trucks, pilot, frame, and fuel tank lighted cab, and fireman and engineer figures.

Lionel made a powered 'A' Locomotive, a Non-Powered 'A' Locomotive, a Non-Powered B-Unit and 6 Passenger cars for the Lionel El Capitan 6-30001 consist.

1. 6-24568 - FT Deisel Locomotive #158 (only available in the Santa Fe El Capitan set)
2. 6-28905 - FT Deisel Locomotive #160 (Non-Powered, sold individually) 
3. 6-38204 - FT Deisel B-Unit #160 (Non-Powered, sold individually)
4. 6-25130 - Coach #3103 (only available in the Santa Fe El Capitan set)
5. 6-25131 - Coach #3105 (only available in the Santa Fe El Capitan set)
6. 6-25132 - Observation #3198 (only available in the Santa Fe El Capitan set)
7. 6-35102 - Diner #5109 (produced in 2004-2007, sold individually)
8. 6-35128 - Baggage #2103 (produced in 2004-2007, sold individually)
9. 6-35129 - Vista Dome #3153 (produced in 2004-2007, sold individually)

The Lionel El Capitan 6-30001 included one FT diesel locomotive 6-24568 (158), two coaches 6-25130 (3103), 6-25131 (3105), and one Observation car 6-25132  (3198).

In the years following the introduction of the El Capitan, Lionel released three more cars to complete the El Capitan consist.

Lionel 6-25411 Santa Fe El Capitan Diner car (5109) produced 2004-2007

Lionel 6-35128 Santa Fe El Capitan Baggage car (2103) produced 2004-2008

Lionel 6-35129 (3153) Santa Fe El Capitan Vista Dome.produced 2004-2008

Santa Fe El Capitan Drum Head

 It was a popular photo-op to get a photo of a celebrity or a pretty girl pictured behind the Observation car featuring the El Capitain drum head to promote traveling the Santa Fe train.

El Capitan Magazine Advertisement

 

El Capitan Finds a New Home

This winter I got a call from my friend asking if I wanted the El Capitan from his garage. They were preparing to sell the house and knowing I no longer had a train, he thought I might enjoy having the El Capitan for my garage. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity and arranged for a Saturday to come over and remove the track, transformer, and "repossess" the El Capitan.

To prepare for the El Capitan's arrival, I constructed a ceiling shelf in my new man-cave/garage. Since this garage is 3-cars wide, I decided to build a single-car size track and run a 22' vertically hung suspension bridge along one edge. This makes one leg of the track visible from both sides.

The construction of this shelf was virtually identical to my original garage project. A single sheet of 5/8" plywood cut into 6" wide strips provided the self. L brackets were attached below the shelf and drywall anchors were used when the bracket did not land on a stud. 

The first piece of the bridge was the hardest and I spent a fair amount of time leveling the shelf/bridge. It would have been a lot easier if I had a laser level. As it turns out I got one at a yard sale a couple weeks after the project was complete. 

The corners were 2'x'2' and I used a paper template to cut the inside radius. I left the outside corners for future use. The straights were cut to length and the "bridge" was suspended from the ceiling studs with anchor screws, couplers, and 6" 1/4-20 carriage bolts. Hanging the shelf/bridge took a better part of two Saturdays, but in the end I had a nice solid level surface to run the train.

My goal was to hang the shelf low enough to use license plates as a backsplash. It was really close but I cleared the garage door pilly by just enough.

The shelf was trimmed out with the same 1" x 1/8" aluminum trim I used in the first garage almost 20 years ago. The final touch was to install the license plates and I ran a 48' rope light around the perimeter to provide uplight. I'm quite happy with the finished product.

El Capitan Billboard

 

This is a 20"x10" @ 150 dpi graphic that I used to create a nice piece of garage art. I sent the files to Walgreens and cut the image to fit a 20x10 frame.

El Capitan is Gifted to the Garage, the Super Chief is Stolen!

 After moving out of our home, I felt bad every time we visited our friends as there was no train running on the track I had installed in the garage. So for Christmas 2008, I presented my friend with his very own brand-new Lionel Santa Fe "El Capitan" 6-30001 set. These sets were produced from 2005-2009 and have a single tri-color stripe on the cars that match the tri-color stripe from the "Warbonnet" paint scheme on the locomotive.

I cleaned the tracks in his garage that I had installed five years previous and in no time the new train was running again!

The Lionel Santa Fe El Capitan 30001 was a 4-pc starter set released in the mid 2000's designed to replicate the pre-1954 Santa Fe El Capitan consist before the addition of the Big Dome and Hi-Level cars. This set featured the ready-to-run Lionel Santa Fe 6-24568 #158 Diesel Locomotive Engine w/electronic Rail-Sounds decorated in the Warbonnet paint scheme, two tri-color single stripe lighted Passenger Cars 6-25130 #3103, 6-25131 #3105, and one lighted rear Observation car 6-25132  #3198. The set also included an 80W transformer and enough FasTrack to build a nice oval around your Christmas tree.

The Lionel Super Chief waiting for a new track to roll down.

Meanwhile, my 3-car Diner-theme garage had not yet materialized and my Super Chief became shelf art in my living room proudly displayed above the television. The Super Chief sat quietly waiting for a new home until our home was burglarized and when we were out of town. When returned home after being away for several days the house was ransacked and the burglars had made multiple trips in and out of the house and had hauled out everything of any value, including my beloved Super Chief.

With the train stolen, I didn't have the heart to buy a new one and I let another 5 years slip away without a train. Every time I would visit my friend, I would look up at the train covered with dust and the tracks piled with wood and other long-flat objects one can store on a high shelf in a garage. It seemed my Santa Fe trains had suffered the same fate as the original streamliners, their heyday was over, people lost interest and the train bells rang no more.