The Grand Canyon Limited was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The westward train split at Barstow, one section running to San Francisco (Oakland-Richmond) via the Tehachapi Loop while the other continued to Los Angeles.

It remained a mostly whistle stop train long after the automobile made such scheduling obsolete for passenger service.

However, when the Post Office abruptly pulled its mail contracts in 1967, the Grand Canyon became a particularly large albatross around the Santa Fe's neck, especially when the ICC turned down requests to withdraw the train.

The original rolling stock delivered for the second-class Grand Canyon Limited was heavyweight cars built by Pullman-Standard.