First Class Lounge
This car is an all-ages first class lounge.
- Please note that the restroom in this car is closed. Passengers in this car are able to use the restrooms in the adjoining cars.
This car originally housed a barbershop, shower, passenger lounge and crew dormitory on the Santa Fe’s famous Super Chief train, which operated between Chicago and Los Angeles. It was built by Pullman-Standard in November 1950 as one of six identical cars.
The 1343 later became part of Amtrak’s fleet during the 1970s, and was purchased by Charles and Lowell Turner in 1982.
Today the car contains an open lounge area and kitchen for serving snacks in. It also has a popular party room for up to 8 passengers with 2 tables and 8 chairs with 3 windows on one side and 2 doors on the other. The car is fully climate controlled.
Looking for wheelchair accessible seats? Check out the Buckeye Trail and Eagle Cliff cars. The Maurice Beckham is not accessible by wheelchair.
In 2015, the Santa Fe 1343 was re-named the Maurice Beckham in honor of it’s long time volunteer! Maurice Beckham’s 21 years of generous service on the Austin & Texas Central Railroad was unmatched in the rich benefits he has brought to our railroad and to our traveling public. No one in our onboard-service crew has been more devoted to giving our passengers an unforgettably enjoyable experience on our trains, and no one is more beloved, by the public and by our railroad family alike. Accordingly, at the behest of his fellow onboard-service crew members, the ASTA Executive Committee eagerly and unanimously voted to name the Santa Fe dormitory-lounge car 1343 for Maurice, as a lasting reminder of the high standard he has set in his many years of service to the railroad and devotion to our passengers.
