What was the reason that the Santa Fe bought the high level cars? It was a totally new concept back then. Was it to improve the image of the named trains they were running?
I'm not an expert on the Santa Fe, but my impression is that they were always very proud of their trains and offered top-notch service. If you go way back in time, they had Fred Harvey (1835-1901) who started restaurants, hotels (along the AT&SF mostly), as well as catered the trains, even into the 1950's. Some of the Harvey Hotels lasted well into the 50's, catering to tourists along the Santa Fe, like Winslow AZ of the "Eagles" fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Harvey_(entrepreneur)
There was even a 1946 movie about the Harvey Girls, with Judy Garland:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038589/
Some of the lines from NYC/DC, etc. had through Pullmans via the Santa Fe to provide coast to coast service, and I believe in the heyday, they advertised Chicago-LA runs of under 40 hours. The Super Chief (All-Pullman) and El-Capitan (coach) were their two signature trains running on the same schedule from Chicago to LA.
The El Capitan featured the Hi-level cars. Here's a complete AT&SF timetable (over 30 pages) from the fall of 1962 which I scanned from my collection.
http://viewoftheblue.com/photography/ti ... FALL62.pdf