Serving Chicago, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and intermediate points
Amtrak train numbers: 35 and 36
Predecessor railroad train numbers: Union Pacific 103 and 104 (City of Los Angeles)
The Union Pacific's Chicago-Los Angeles train, called the City of Los Angeles, ran via their Overland Route through Wyoming and making the southward turn at Ogden, Utah.
Initially, Amtrak provided service between Chicago and Los Angeles with one train on the shorter Santa Fe Railroad route via Albuquerque, first called the Super Chief/El Capitan, then the Southwest Limited.
In 1979, Amtrak added a new service between those cities in the form of the Desert Wind, which connected with the San Francisco Zephyr in Ogden and ran from there along the old City of Los Angeles route to Los Angeles. Several years later, the train began operating through to and from Chicago, combined with the San Francisco Zephyr, and then the California Zephyr.
On May 10, 1997, the Desert Wind made its last run, cut from the Amtrak timetable due to budget problems.
Condensed historical timetables:
READ DOWN READ UP
(1956) (1979) (1987) (1994) (1994) (1987) (1979) (1956)
6:45P ----- 3:15P 3:05P Dp Chicago Ar 4:15P 4:05P ----- 11:00A
3:10A ----- 11:30P 11:35P Omaha 6:50A 6:55A ----- 2:45A
----- ----- 8:50A 9:10A Denver 9:00P 9:15P ----- -----
6:55P 11:45P ----- ----- Ogden ----- ----- 6:15A 9:10A
7:50P 12:50A 11:45P 12:45A Salt Lake City 5:05A 6:48A 4:55A 8:15A
2:40A 8:45A 7:30A 8:05A Las Vegas 6:00P 8:50P 7:10P 11:20P
9:30A 4:45P 2:45P 3:20P Ar Los Angeles Dp 10:55A 1:50P 11:25A 4:30P
The Amtrak Train Names Project