Las Vegas Limited
Las Vegas Limited
Overview |
Service type |
Inter-city rail |
Status |
Discontinued |
Locale |
California and Nevada
|
First service |
May 21, 1976 |
Last service |
August 6, 1976 |
Successor |
Desert Wind |
Former operator(s) |
Amtrak |
Route |
Start |
Los Angeles, California |
Stops |
4 |
End |
Las Vegas, Nevada |
Distance travelled |
324 miles (521 km) |
Average journey time |
7 hours 25 minutes |
Service frequency |
Weekly |
Train number(s) |
781/782 |
On-board services |
Class(es) |
Reserved coach |
Catering facilities |
Full diner and on-board lounge |
Technical |
Track gauge |
4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
|
September 20, 1974 |
Train |
Las Vegas Celebrity Train |
-
EMD SDP40F No. 502
- EMD SDP40F No. 558
- Lunch counter diner No. 8101
-
Hi-Level transition coach No. 9929
- Hi-Level coach No. 9948
- Hi-Level coach No. 9954
- Hi-Level coach No. 9964
- Hi-Level transition coach No. 9927
- Ex-UP lounge No. 5000 Sun Valley
- Lunch counter diner-dormitory No. 8118
- Ex-NP lounge-observation No. 392 Hulham
|
The Las Vegas Limited was a short-lived weekend-only passenger train operated by Amtrak between Los Angeles, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the last in series of excursion trains run by Amtrak between 1972–1976 serving the Los Angeles–Las Vegas market. Low patronage led to the train's withdrawal after three months. Amtrak returned to the Las Vegas market in 1979 with the Desert Wind, a daily train between Los Angeles and Ogden, Utah.
The railroad arrived in Las Vegas in 1905 with the opening of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Senator William A. Clark of Montana controlled the railroad from its founding in 1901 to 1921, when he sold his interest to the Union Pacific Railroad. This placed Las Vegas on the Union Pacific's main Los Angeles–Chicago route, and some of the UP's most famous trains served it, including the Challenger, Los Angeles Limited, and above all the City of Los Angeles.
By 1970 this service was reduced to a combined City of Los Angeles/Challenger, which itself was combined with the City of Denver, City of Kansas City, City of Portland, and City of San Francisco on the Overland Route. This combined train earned the derisive sobriquet "City of Everywhere"; Amtrak's incorporators retained only the City of San Francisco for Amtrak's initial route structure. Intercity passenger service to Las Vegas ended on May 1, 1971, as Amtrak took over most private sector service.
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