The military-only trains in the March 1946 timetable have been replaced by trains that were apparently open to the public. On the Overland Route, a coach-only train called the Advanced Pacific Limited departed two hours before the regular Pacific Limited … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Timetable
Here’s another condensed timetable, meaning it is missing most of the advertising found in the system timetable. Being so soon after the end of the war, the trains it features are pretty much the same as the pre-war trains, minus … Continue reading
In the midst of war, Southern Pacific continued publishing 56-page timetables and the print runs were upped to 115,000 copies. The main difference between this and pre-war timetables was that the full-page advertisements in this one emphasized war-related freight shipping … Continue reading
As far as I can tell, San Francisco was the only major city west of Chicago to be served by commuter trains — passenger trains serving mainly commuters that operated on the same tracks as freight trains — before 1980. … Continue reading
Like the July timetable shown here a couple of days ago, this one is 24 pages long. The main difference between the two is that this one shows the schedule of the Arizona Limited, which was then in its second … Continue reading
This timetable has just 24 pages. The back cover (shown below) doesn’t say so, but the front cover says, in tiny print, “Condensed Through Schedules.” There are no full-page ads, timetables are abbreviated, and the station index is reduced from … Continue reading
The front cover of this timetable advertises a new train and a renewed train. The new train was the Beaver, which was also introduced with the June 1940 issue of Southern Pacific’s West periodical. The Beaver was SP’s budget train … Continue reading
For the full-page advertisement on the front cover of this timetable, Southern Pacific hired a 23-year-old artist named Norman Todhunter, whose father, Francis Todhunter, was also a commercial artist. Norman later became known as a postage stamp designer who encouraged … Continue reading
The Depression was ending, finally, and Southern Pacific and its partner railroads were increasing their passenger service. This timetable advertises the San Francisco Challenger, an economy train inspired by the success of Union Pacific’s Challenger to Los Angeles. This timetable … Continue reading
This timetable represents a momentous occasion: the introduction of the streamlined City of San Francisco, the first regularly scheduled streamliner to operate on the Southern Pacific. The full-page ad on the front cover announces “an entirely new kind of train, … Continue reading