Just as SP’s regular timetables were shrinking, its condensed timetables were shrinking as well. In 1955, the condensed timetable was 16 pages. This one is just 8. Click image to download a 2.6-MB PDF of this 8-page timetable. It offers … Continue reading
This timetable is arranged similarly to yesterday’s, including two full-page ads that promote both SP passenger and freight services. The full-page ad on page 11 promotes the Coast route and wide-door boxcars, saying that SP has the largest fleet of … Continue reading
Along with the simplified route map that first appeared on the April 1957 timetable (and shown on the October 1957 edition, SP drastically reduced the page count from 48 to 32 pages. The larger timetables had separate pages for eastbound … Continue reading
By 1958, off-season ridership on the Shasta Daylight had fallen so low that Southern Pacific applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission to reduce it to three-day-a-week service. Apparently, it didn’t get permission to do so, as it sent this notice … Continue reading
Southern Pacific announced a new simplified fare structure for its San Francisco commuter trains in 1957. Rather than have a different price for each city pair, it put the San Francisco-San Jose route into six zones, with one price from … Continue reading
With the April 1957 timetable, Southern Pacific replaced drawings of its four leading streamliners on the back cover with a simplified map of its rail system, as shown below. A more detailed system map is still included in the centerfold. … Continue reading
Southern Pacific’s diminishing enthusiasm for passenger trains is revealed in the front cover ad of this system timetable, which is more about freight service than passenger. “More miles of rail line,” it says, “more freight cars, more piggyback.” It does … Continue reading
The Overland Limited was a shadow of its former self when Southern Pacific decided to dress it up by adding a dome car in 1955. This brochure, issued in March 1956, encourages people to “see the High Sierra by day” … Continue reading
Like SP’s 1950 condensed timetable, this one is 16 pages long. The discontinuation of many local trains, however, leaves room for far more ads in the 1955 edition. Click image to download a 7.0-MB PDF of this 16-page timetable. Basic … Continue reading
Like yesterday’s Coast/San Joaquin timetable, this one is dated January 1954, shows just one route, is eight pages long, and has the same cover showing outdated locomotives. Unlike yesterday’s, this one doesn’t devote two whole pages to a system map, … Continue reading
