The original "Desert Wind" was a day train with Amfleet equipment. The northbound train left Los Angeles mid-day and arrived in Ogden the following morning to connect with the eastbound "San Francisco Zephyr". The southbound departed Ogden in the middle of the night after the arrival of the westbound "San Francisco Zephyr" from Chicago and arrived in Los Angeles in late afternoon. The journey took eighteen hours. Beginning in 1980, the "Desert Wind" exchanged a Chicago – Los Angeles through coach with the "San Francisco Zephyr" at Ogden; this service expanded in 1982 to include a sleeping car. After the renamed and rerouted "California Zephyr" began using the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad main line in 1983, the "Desert Wind" began connecting with the "Zephyr" at Salt Lake City. Later, the "Desert Wind" and the Seattle-bound "Pioneer" would operate together with the "California Zephyr" from Chicago to Salt Lake City, where the trains separated. This created a train of 16 Superliner cars running from Chicago to Utah, the longest that Amtrak had ever operated aside from the "Auto Train." With Amtrak needing at least four locomotives to pull this massive train through the Rockies, the "Pioneer" began splitting off at Denver in 1991, while the "Desert Wind" continued to split from the "Zephyr" at Salt Lake City.