This card is for E-7 locomotives built for the Golden State. The back of the card provides specifications similar to the card for the Shasta Daylight locomotive, except it notes that the Golden State locomotive consists of one lead and two booster units rather than two leads and one booster. Three sets were built numbered 6000A-B-C, 6001A-B-C, and 6002A-B-C.
Click image to download a PDF of this card.
The color scheme for the Golden State was striking but oversimplified, with just two stripes–orange above and silver below–and no pinstripes. The placement of the words “Southern Pacific” in silver rectangles on the orange stripe interrupts the streamlined appearance of the locomotives and would have looked better if they had put black or silver letters on the orange background. Considering that SP simplified its paint schemes in the 1960s, it is ironic that it replaced the simple scheme on its Golden State locomotives with the more intricate, and arguably more beautiful, Daylight scheme just a couple of years after GM delivered these locomotives, mainly so it could use the locomotives for a variety of trains rather than have them dedicated to just the Golden State.