trainset in 1939. In the 1960s, prior to the creation of Amtrak, two
Union Pacific Railroad streamliners provided service to Portland via Boise: the
City of Portland (from Chicago) and the
Portland Rose (from Kansas City). Amtrak did not retain either train in 1971—preferring the
Empire Builder for Chicago–
Pacific Northwest service—with the result that train travel between the Pacific Northwest and Denver required either going west to California or east to Chicago. Amtrak sought to fill this gap in 1977 with the introduction of the
Pioneer between Seattle and Salt Lake City. The all-coach train operated on a daily 24-hour schedule with connections available in
Ogden, Utah with the Chicago–
San Francisco San Francisco Zephyr. Meal service was provided in an on-board cafe, one of the then-new
Amfleet dinettes. Coaches were reserved except between Portland and Seattle, where the
Pioneer supplemented existing
corridor service. In early 1977, Amtrak authorized approximately $500,000 to improve 13 stations along the route in
Utah,
Idaho, and
Oregon. Work included installation of passenger shelters, platforms and rehabilitation of existing stations. Regular service began on June 7. in 1981, listing the
Pioneer, among other trains The
Pioneer began exchanging a Seattle–Chicago
through coach with the
San Francisco Zephyr on April 26, 1981; this was supplemented by a through sleeping car on October 31, 1982. When the
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad decided to join Amtrak in 1983, Amtrak renamed the
San Francisco Zephyr to
California Zephyr, shifted it south to the
Moffat Tunnel Route, and changed its interchange point with the
Pioneer from Ogden to Salt Lake City, the ''Pioneer's
terminus. While visiting Pendleton, Oregon on February 22, Amtrak President Thomas M. Downs said the Pioneer'' could be converted to a coach-only Chicago–Portland mail-and-express train operating on an all-Union Pacific routing through Iowa and Wyoming (but missing Ogden) if interested states could provide about $4.8 million to fund the existing operation through that October when the new train could start. By the March 15 deadline, state funding had not been secured even though the requested funding package had been reduced. Instead of seeking $4.8 million, Amtrak asked the Oregon legislature for $2.9 million in loan guarantees, which would have resulted in triweekly service between Portland and Salt Lake City through the October startup of a daily mixed train carrying express freight and passengers between Chicago and Portland via Omaha, Cheyenne, and Ogden. Oregon refused to provide the loan guarantees because it found Amtrak's collateral (ex-
Santa Fe Hi-Level cars) unacceptable. On April 10, Union Pacific told Amtrak that the proposed express train would require $56 million in capital improvements. On May 10, 1997, the
Pioneer made its last run, as did the
Desert Wind. It was reported in the December 1998 issue of
Trains that a Chicago–Portland replacement for the
Pioneer via Omaha and Cheyenne had been postponed. The end of the
Pioneer severed Wyoming from the national rail network, and also spelled the end of intercity rail service in the more populated portions of Idaho. To maintain service levels in the Seattle–Portland corridor, Amtrak instituted an additional corridor train between the two cities. == Equipment ==