Re: San Diegan / Surfliner history
Author: steve harrison
Date: 01-25-2007 - 12:14
first i would like to thank the people who posted above for the interesting info!
i remember hearing another reason that the 'san diegans' were renamed the 'pacific surfliners' was because amtrak wanted to be able to run trains in that corridor that did not serve san diego. and they quickly did (798-799). it would indeed be confusing to have 'san diegan' trains that did not go to or from san diego.
but my question is about the events of the early-mid 1970's. when the santa fe railway 'took back' the names 'super chief' amd 'texas chief' from amtrak they did not 'take back' the name 'san diegan'. amtrak voluntarily changed that name decades later for their own reasons. my question, and i dont know if anyone knows the answer, is why.
i figure either the santa fe railway could not, because the name 'san diegan' is too generic to be 'owned', they felt that amtrak was keeping 'san diegan' service up to the previous santa fe railway standards (which they may well could have been), or they just didnt care about the name 'san diegan'.
thank you very much,
steve