The Santa Fe introduced the Texas Chief on April 3, 1948, between Chicago and Galveston, Texas via Kansas City, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Fort Worth, and Houston. It was truncated to Houston in early 1967. From 1955 until 1968, a section would cut off at Gainesville, Texas to serve Denton, Texas and Dallas. Sante Fe conveyed the Texas Chief to Amtrak at the latter's inception in 1971. Amtrak changed the train's name from Texas Chief to Lone Star on May 19, 1974, after the Santa Fe determined that Amtrak's trains no longer met its service standards and demanded that Amtrak stop using the "Chief" name. The train was popular with students of the many colleges and universities along its route, such as the University of Kansas, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Wichita State University and the University of Oklahoma. It provided economical transportation to and from school. Amtrak considered, but rejected, a Dallas through routing because of concerns over the Dallas station, choosing to instead add a Fort Worth–Dallas section on July 1, 1975. The Dallas through cars were temporarily discontinued between October 1976 and February 15, 1977, during which time the Lone Star was combined with the Chicago–Los Angeles Southwest Limited between Chicago and Kansas City. Due to cuts by Congress as part of the Amtrak Reorganization Act of 1979pressed by the US Department of Transportation under the Carter administrationthe Lone Star was discontinued on October 8, 1979, leaving Oklahoma without passenger train service until 1999. Chicago–Houston service was retained by adding a Houston section to the Chicago–Laredo Inter-American, which split at Temple. At the time of its discontinuance, the Lone Star was Amtrak's seventh most popular long-distance train. The Houston section remained until 1981, when the Inter-American itself was cut back to San Antonio and renamed the Eagle.
Current service along former route
Of the original Texas Chief/Lone Star route, only the Newton, Kansas–Wichita-Oklahoma City and Temple–Houston-Galveston segments remain without passenger train service. Chicago–Newton is served by Amtrak's Southwest Chief, while Oklahoma City–Fort Worth is served by Amtrak's Heartland Flyer. While the Newton–Wichita–Oklahoma City portion does not have passenger train service, it has been served by Amtrak Thruway since April 2016. Chicago–Dallas service is provided by Amtrak's Texas Eagle via a different route than the Lone Star.
Equipment
During 1976–1977 when the Lone Star combined with the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Kansas City, the Lone Star consisted of two baggage cars, two Hi-Level coaches, a dormitory bar-lounge, an ex-Santa Fe dining car, two 10-roomette/6-bedroom Pine-series sleeping cars, and a 48-seat single-level coach. One baggage car, one sleeping car, and the single-level coach operated through to Dallas.
