History
The Pioneer began service in June 1977, initially operating as a Seattle - Salt Lake City train. The train's establishment restored passenger service to the Pacific Northwest mainline of the Union Pacific Railroad through southern Idaho and eastern Oregon, a route which had lost its two passenger trains in 1971. Service to points east was provided via a connection with Amtrak's California Zephyr. The trains connected at Ogden, Utah until 1983, and at Salt Lake City thereafter. When the Pioneer was equipped with Superliner passenger equipment, the train included through coaches for Chicago, carried on the California Zephyr east of Utah.
With the 5 April 1992 timetable change, the Pioneer split or combined with the Desert Wind and California Zephyr at Denver, with the Pioneer then able to serve parts of Wyoming.
The train ran daily until 1995, after which the train ran thrice-weekly, departing Chicago on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and departing Seattle on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The Pioneer and Desert Wind were closely tied to one another, and met the same fate at the same time; both were discontinued in 1997. On 10 May 1997 the last Pioneer left Seattle for the trip to Chicago.
Read more about this topic: Pioneer (train)
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