El Capitan/Gallery
(PD) Photo: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
An interior photo of one of the "Big Dome" cars which the Santa Fe introduced on its El Capitan and San Francisco Chief trains in 1954. The dome extended over the roof of the entire car, as opposed to standard domed cars whose domes occupied only a portion of the car's roof.(CC) Photo: Phil Dohmen / DaveVarilek / TrainWeb.com
One of Santa Fe's "Big Dome"-Lounge cars originally built by the Budd Company for El Capitan; eventually, these cars would find their way into consists on nearly every main line. Unit #506 (shown above) was the only unit retained by the Santa Fe after 1971 (its designation changed to #60); all the rest had been sold to Auto-Train. The car "lives" today as a member of the BNSF Railway roster as BNSF31, the Bay View.