The Southern Pacific distributed lots of postcards of the Shasta Daylight. Here is an artist’s impression of the train led by Alco PAs going by Odell Lake in the Oregon Cascades. Click on image to download a PDF of the … Continue reading
When it introduced the Shasta Daylight, the Southern Pacific did its usual flurry of advertising for the new train. However, the SP had a monopoly on passenger-rail service in the Shasta-Daylight corridor, where it competed with the Western Pacific in … Continue reading
On July 10, 1949, the Southern Pacific inaugurated the Shasta Daylight, which covered the 714 miles between Portland and Oakland in 15-1/2 mostly daylight hours. The train featured extra-large “skyview” windows to allow passengers to get better looks at the … Continue reading
The logo for the Golden State was a cluster of oranges, and the SP-RI used this on the drumhead on the back of the train, stationery, menus, and other items. It looks very nice on the on-board stationery, which is … Continue reading
Both the Southern Pacific and the Rock Island jumped the gun in advertising the 39-3/4-hour Golden Rocket before SP cancelled the train in 1947. I’ve already shown the Southern Pacific’s ad; here is the Rock Island ad from 1946. Click … Continue reading
With the advent of the Super Chief and City of Los Angeles, passengers had a choice of carriers that would whisk them from Chicago to Los Angeles in under 40 hours. But there was a third route between the second- … Continue reading
Out of the 120,000 or so steam locomotives built and used in the United States, only about 220 were streamlined–or, as the Chicago & North Western called it, steamlined–for passenger service. Railroads went to the trouble to streamline steam locomotives … Continue reading
On March 21, 1937, the Southern Pacific inaugurated the Daylight between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Like the Milwaukee Hiawatha, the SP elected to go with steam power, in this case a semi-streamlined 4-8-4 locomotive manufactured by Lima, the smallest … Continue reading
