In 1933, the first diesel prototypes were made by General Motors. The railroad industry was interested in these because it needed something to revolutionize the industry to make up for passengers lost to automobile traffic. The ATSF completed its first diesel locomotive in 1937, called Super Chief. It required $4 million in upgrades to the rail due to the higher speed and greater weight of the train. It would make better time too because water stops would no longer be required. The trains also towed Pullman sleeper cars. They could also pull a bigger load up a grade. The Jeep, a second diesel was purchased in 1938, a 5,400 hp engine. The El Capitan arrived on the Los Angeles to Chicago line in 1938. The Super Chief was used extensively in Hollywood pictures. By 1959, ATSF retired all of its steam engines. Eventually it also sell all of its passenger service to Amtrak in 1973.
The railroad somehow survived the Great Depression. But what affected it more was the dust bowl drought years because so much of its track served those states affected. Workers agreed to a 10% reduction in salary to minimize the need for layoffs. New track laying projects were abandoned and so were some lesser used routes. Samuel Bledsoe became the new president and kept the railroad afloat. One new line was completed in the Pecos Valley. This line was connected to a potash company, a sure revenue generator.
Bledsoe also started buying up trucking lines, so that at least some of the competing transportation was its own. By the end of the decade the railroad was once again buying stock. And work started again on a track between Boise City, Oklahoma, and Las Animas, Colorado that has been halted in 1931. Purchase of the Frisco line in Texas also helped cut off 117 miles on the Fort Worth to California route.
Bledsoe unexpectedly died in 1939. The board quickly appointed Edward Engel. Engel continued the upgrade to diesel locomotives. He also began air conditioning passenger cars. For the first time since 1931, shareholders received a dividend $2.50/share. Some of the lines main stations were remodeled.
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